ClubFloyd Transcript:Necrotic Drift by Robb SherwinAs played on ifMUD on May 26 & June 2, 2013

The idea behind ClubFloyd
is that each week at a pre-arranged time, a group of
people meet online to cooperatively play a game of
interactive fiction.

Below is a transcript of
Necrotic Drift written by Robb Sherwin.
Necrotic Drift was released in 2004. It was nominated for several Xyzzies (Best Game, Best Writing, Best Story, Best NPCs, Best Use of Medium, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Individual PC) and won the Xyzzy for Best Individual NPC.
You can learn more about the game, including how to download it, by visiting
IFDB.

WARNING!Below you will find a transcript of
people playing this game, and it goes without saying that
the transcript is full of spoilers. So, if you've never
played this game, and think you might like to at some
point, I do not recommend reading any further. Instead,
you might want to return to the interactive fiction
page.

ToyShop & Floyditorium

#ClubFloyd Discussion

says, "So, are we playing Necrotic Drift? Looks like Ellison was ensuring we had that loaded into Floyd."

Jacqueline says, "Or did NightFloyd do that, I wonder..."

DavidW says, "huh, I think the cashier gave me the peanut crackers for free when it didn't scan."

DavidW says, "weird: opened a jerky package and inside, there's a smaller foil package plus a mini packet with napkin and two toothpicks."

jenrexrode says, "FTF NF"

Jacqueline asks, "FTF?"

DavidW looks up. "yeah, neither Floyd has done Necrotic Drift."

jenrexrode says, "first things frst"

Jacqueline says, "Oh, I see now."

Jacqueline says, "Thanks."

DavidW looks back at the jerky package. "It doesn't say the flavour in English, but it helpfully does say 'Eating method: Consumed upon opening'.

Jacqueline says, "Well, given that I will not be here most of this week, I'd love to see CF play that (I was a tester for the game, and thus can't play it anyway)."

Jacqueline says, "Necrotic Drift, that is."

jenrexrode asks, "zombies?"

Jacqueline says, "I cannot say."

DavidW says, "I have no objection to ND."

DavidW says, "And I assume there's zombies, but I don't know."

Jacqueline says, "I cannot wait to read the transcript - I really like this game, and it has one of my favorite IF puzzles ever."

smartgenes says, "Emily's going to play with us, she only has a little bit of exposure to IF so far.."

Jacqueline says, "I was thinking Robb released an update, but what he did was release the code."

inky says, "ndrift is the newest thing"

inky says, "from may 19"

Jacqueline says, "mmkay - cool. Thank you."

Jacqueline says, "brb"

Jacqueline waves and makes an isquiesque departure for home.

Jacqueline says, "Back. My tf was doing this weird thing it sometimes does where it quits showing me any channel except ones I have hard-wired color triggers (I could only see CF and JC)"

Jacqueline hollers, "Here in three minutes or so, ClubFloyd will play Necrotic Drift by Robb Sherwin."

DavidW says, "huh. I thought I was already in the toyshop. I'm too overcome with snacks, I suppose."

Jacqueline says, "I wasn't here either, due to my reboot. Huh."

Zach asks, "I'm confused: we're playing a game about tofu jerky zombie?"

Jacqueline says, "Um, sure."

Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "load ndrift"

Floyd | Welcome to the Cheap Glk Implementation, library version 0.9.0.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | My dad came home late one night when I was nine and threw an old copy
Floyd | of the Monster Manual by Gary Gygax onto my bed. He woke me up,
Floyd | stressed and shaking at the humiliation his friends had put him
Floyd | through earlier that evening.
Floyd |
Floyd | He asked me if I wanted the book. I was still groggy, but I picked it
Floyd | up and thumbed through it. "We didn't play Monopoly tonight, Jarret,"
Floyd | he told me. "That's because not a one of them can beat me. Instead,
Floyd | they brought out this... thing. Some 'game of the imagination'." He
Floyd | practically spat that last word. "You can move all you like without
Floyd | throwing any dice, but to actually do anything, you need to throw a
Floyd | handful!!" I was both reading entries on the different monsters and
Floyd | paying half-attention to his rant. "Five minutes in, Benson tells me
Floyd | that I come across something called a gorgon. That got me stoned. Why
Floyd | would I play a game that depicted the recreational use of marijuana
Floyd | cigarettes? I got up and left."
Floyd |
Floyd | "They let you read this during play?" I asked him. He nodded. I turned
Floyd | to page 49. "I don't think they were supposed to. It says right here
Floyd | that the gorgon can turn you to stone. It doesn't get you stoned. And
Floyd | right here are all its weaknesses! How did you not see this? Are you
Floyd | stupid or something? Or what?"
Floyd |
Floyd | My father snatched back the Monster Manual. He didn't state that what
Floyd | he was going to do was going to hurt him more than it hurt me. (I
Floyd | think all he did say was that he should have left his 'patented Duffy
Floyd | blast' on my mother's face the night I was conceived, which didn't
Floyd | make a whole lot of sense to me then.) He instead just quietly gave me
Floyd | a spanking for back talk. But as that 112 page reference to a modern
Floyd | mythology of villainy struck my bony behind, it was as if he were
Floyd | bonding the pages and me for all time. Like directed osmosis through
Floyd | anger or something.
Floyd |
Floyd | (Okay, it actually wasn't like osmosis at all, but I've sacrificed
Floyd | knowledge in basic chemistry for additional levels in Modern
Floyd | Mythology, so please cut me some slack on the occasional analogy
Floyd | outside of my experience.)
Floyd |
Floyd | In the week that followed, my father tried to ban Dungeons & Dragons
Floyd | from the house as he had previously banned video games, cursing, Cajun
Floyd | food and music recorded after 1959. I stood up to him on D&D, though,
Floyd | and he caved for the only time in my childhood. Within a week I was
Floyd | running my own games for the kids in my tract. We were creating
Floyd | adventures together with Devils, Demons and Dragons and it was one of
Floyd | the best times of my life. My old man may have never been on the short
Floyd | list for an award from the PTA, but his maniac antics did a better job
Floyd | helping me understand just what I was interested in than the fathers
Floyd | of anyone else I grew up with. And heck, he did have my back that one
Floyd | time I met D&D creator Gary Gygax himself at DragonCon and started
Floyd | kicking him in his bag of magic beans (if you're digging my ditch
Floyd | here) in misplaced, latent vengeance due to how hard the board stock
Floyd | was for those manual covers.
Floyd |
Floyd | I don't think you've truly bonded with your father until you've spent
Floyd | 36 consecutive hours in a holding cell mocking and taunting an inmate
Floyd | set consisting of multiple thirty-somethings decked out in homemade
Floyd | hobbit, fairie and chocobo costumes, where the only thing the lot of
Floyd | them had in common, aside from a complete lack of human dignity, was
Floyd | relating how difficult it was to sleep late when the sump pump went
Floyd | off.
Floyd |
Floyd |

smartgenes arrives, full of fun and funk.

Jacqueline asks, "Oh wait, sleepmask? Does that work on this? It doesn't, right?"

Jacqueline says, "Oh, or maybe it does."

Jacqueline says, "Let me restart and see."

Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "quit"

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Necrotic Drift
Floyd | Interactive Fiction
Floyd | Copyright (c) 2004. Written and programmed by Robb Sherwin
Floyd | Release 1.03 / Serial number 040623 / Hugo 3.1
Floyd |
Floyd | I'm here this evening at an Academy Videos store thirty-five minutes
Floyd | from my home with two of my roommates and my best friend. We have to
Floyd | come all the way down here to rent because of the late fees on my
Floyd | memberships at all the video places back in the Fort. I wish I had a
Floyd | good story for why that is the case, but I don't. I'm just poor and
Floyd | had the first Lord of the Rings movie overdue for more than two weeks
Floyd | at multiple video chains. I kept it around to mainly prove trivia. (It
Floyd | will probably end up costing me more to show my friends that the elf
Floyd | character Legolas was walking on, and not in the snow, than it did for
Floyd | director Peter Jackson to implement that effect on-screen.)
Floyd |
Floyd | Supposedly, Audrey is dropping by tonight to watch a movie, which is
Floyd | why I'm even here to begin with. In the five years we've been together
Floyd | we've dumped each other a total of nine times. She is currently ahead
Floyd | of me six to three. Her most shallow dumping was when she wanted to
Floyd | exclusively hang around a hardcore goth guy who had somehow managed to
Floyd | finance or lease his own cemetery plot. That guy was the black
Floyd | fingernail Alpha male until he missed his first payment. To be fair,
Floyd | mine was when she filled out Student Loan paperwork for me without my
Floyd | knowledge or consent and almost enrolled me into classes at the nearby
Floyd | University of Central Hill. She doesn't like the fact that I work at
Floyd | the Funtime Teen Mall for $5.51 an hour at age 27.
Floyd |
Floyd | I have to work later tonight, so I guess I'd better pick something and
Floyd | get out of here quickly.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button.

Floyd | What?
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "quit"

Floyd | [Your score is 0 from a trivial 601.]
Floyd | Are you sure you want to quit (YES or NO)?

Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "y"

Floyd |
Floyd | Thanks for playing!
Floyd |

Floyd asks, "That game over already? It was just getting good. Wanna play another?"

Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "load sleepmask ndrift"

Floyd ] NECROTIC DRIFT 1.03 by Robb Sherwin
Floyd | My dad came home late one night when I was nine and threw an old copy
Floyd | of the Monster Manual by Gary Gygax onto my bed. He woke me
Floyd | up, stressed and shaking at the humiliation his friends had put him
Floyd | through earlier that evening.
Floyd |
Floyd | He asked me if I wanted the book. I was still groggy, but I picked it
Floyd | up and thumbed through it. "We didn't play Monopoly tonight, Jarret,"
Floyd | he told me. "That's because not a one of them can beat me. Instead,
Floyd | they brought out this... thing. Some 'game of the imagination'." He
Floyd | practically spat that last word. "You can move all you like without
Floyd | throwing any dice, but to actually do anything, you need to throw a
Floyd | handful!!" I was both reading entries on the different monsters and
Floyd | paying half-attention to his rant. "Five minutes in, Benson tells me
Floyd | that I come across something called a gorgon. That got me stoned. Why
Floyd | would I play a game that depicted the recreational use of marijuana
Floyd | cigarettes? I got up and left."
Floyd |
Floyd | "They let you read this during play?" I asked him. He nodded. I turned
Floyd | to page 49. "I don't think they were supposed to. It says right here
Floyd | that the gorgon can turn you to stone. It doesn't
Floyd | get you stoned. And right here are all its weaknesses! How
Floyd | did you not see this? Are you stupid or something? Or what?"
Floyd |
Floyd | My father snatched back the Monster Manual. He didn't state
Floyd | that what he was going to do was going to hurt him more than it hurt
Floyd | me. (I think all he did say was that he should have left his 'patented
Floyd | Duffy blast' on my mother's face the night I was conceived, which
Floyd | didn't make a whole lot of sense to me then.) He instead just quietly
Floyd | gave me a spanking for back talk. But as that 112 page reference to a
Floyd | modern mythology of villainy struck my bony behind, it was as if he
Floyd | were bonding the pages and me for all time. Like directed osmosis
Floyd | through anger or something.
Floyd |
Floyd | (Okay, it actually wasn't like osmosis at all, but I've sacrificed
Floyd | knowledge in basic chemistry for additional levels in Modern
Floyd | Mythology, so please cut me some slack on the occasional analogy
Floyd | outside of my experience.)
Floyd |
Floyd | In the week that followed, my father tried to ban Dungeons & Dragons
Floyd | from the house as he had previously banned video games, cursing, Cajun
Floyd | food and music recorded after 1959. I stood up to him on D&D, though,
Floyd | and he caved for the only time in my childhood. Within a week I was
Floyd | running my own games for the kids in my tract. We were creating
Floyd | adventures together with Devils, Demons and Dragons and it was one of
Floyd | the best times of my life. My old man may have never been on the short
Floyd | list for an award from the PTA, but his maniac antics did a better job
Floyd | helping me understand just what I was interested in than the fathers
Floyd | of anyone else I grew up with. And heck, he did have my back that one
Floyd | time I met D&D creator Gary Gygax himself at DragonCon and started
Floyd | kicking him in his bag of magic beans (if you're digging my ditch
Floyd | here) in misplaced, latent vengeance due to how hard the board stock
Floyd | was for those manual covers.
Floyd |
Floyd | I don't think you've truly bonded with your father until you've spent
Floyd | 36 consecutive hours in a holding cell mocking and taunting an inmate
Floyd | set consisting of multiple thirty-somethings decked out in homemade
Floyd | hobbit, fairie and chocobo costumes, where the only thing the lot of
Floyd | them had in common, aside from a complete lack of human dignity, was
Floyd | relating how difficult it was to sleep late when the sump pump went
Floyd | off.

smartgenes asks, "can we go slow on start so emily can get the context?"

Jacqueline says, "Yes. We haven't taken a move yet - there are just big text dumps at the start is all."

Jacqueline asks, "Or... wait, is she not here yet?"

Jacqueline says, "I mean, I don't think people will hold off unless we're sure she's going to be here very soon."

smartgenes asks, "just wait a couple of minutes?"

Jacqueline asks, "I'm sure a couple of minutes is probably okay... but I'm actually about to leave. DW, jen, inky?"

DavidW says, "I can wait a bit. But yeah, long textdumps."

Jacqueline says, "Let me just trigger the second dump because I want to see if Sleepmask is going to work with this."

Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button.

Floyd ] Academy Videos 0 / 0
Floyd | Necrotic DriftFloyd | Interactive Fiction
Floyd | Copyright (c) 2004. Written and programmed by Robb Sherwin
Floyd | Release 1.03 / Serial number 040623 / Hugo 3.1
Floyd |
Floyd | I'm here this evening at an Academy Videos store thirty-five minutes
Floyd | from my home with two of my roommates and my best friend. We have to
Floyd | come all the way down here to rent because of the late fees on my
Floyd | memberships at all the video places back in the Fort. I wish I had a
Floyd | good story for why that is the case, but I don't. I'm just poor and
Floyd | had the first Lord of the Rings movie overdue for more than
Floyd | two weeks at multiple video chains. I kept it around to mainly prove
Floyd | trivia. (It will probably end up costing me more to show my friends
Floyd | that the elf character Legolas was walking on, and not
Floyd | in the snow, than it did for director Peter Jackson to
Floyd | implement that effect on-screen.)
Floyd |
Floyd | Supposedly, Audrey is dropping by tonight to watch a movie, which is
Floyd | why I'm even here to begin with. In the five years we've been together
Floyd | we've dumped each other a total of nine times. She is currently ahead
Floyd | of me six to three. Her most shallow dumping was when she wanted to
Floyd | exclusively hang around a hardcore goth guy who had somehow managed to
Floyd | finance or lease his own cemetery plot. That guy was the black
Floyd | fingernail Alpha male until he missed his first payment. To be fair,
Floyd | mine was when she filled out Student Loan paperwork for me without my
Floyd | knowledge or consent and almost enrolled me into classes at the nearby
Floyd | University of Central Hill. She doesn't like the fact that I work at
Floyd | the Funtime Teen Mall for $5.51 an hour at age 27.
Floyd |
Floyd | I have to work later tonight, so I guess I'd better pick something and
Floyd | get out of here quickly.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Jacqueline says, "Looks fine."

Jacqueline says, "So, I'm going to head out - enjoy this one, everyone. See you next week."

smartgenes says, "just a couple more mins she is making sure the dogs don't steal each other's food"

Floyd ] Academy Videos 0 / 1
Floyd | >Floyd | > LFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Academy VideosFloyd | The inside of the video store looks like it was slapped together in a
Floyd | weekend by enslaved, tool-wielding howler monkeys and routinely
Floyd | cleaned by an anosmic with all the enthusiasm of a man who lost a bet.
Floyd | Rotting floorboards create a random topography that would put the
Floyd | landshifts and valleys of the legendary Umar Hills to shame. Faded
Floyd | posters cover much of the surface area of the walls, and a few of them
Floyd | have begun peeling or been stricken with graffiti.
Floyd |
Floyd | All the available movies have been shoved into racks labeled with one
Floyd | of four categories: Action, Drama, Fantasy and Horror. Alphabetical
Floyd | order isn't implemented in any of them either, so trying to find a
Floyd | specific movie is often futile. It's usually best just to look along
Floyd | the racks and hope something good catches your eye.
Floyd | Gibs, Pang, Criswell, and the clerk are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | "So..." says Gibs, as he scans the movies half-heartedly, "You and
Floyd | Audrey are on the rocks again, eh, Duffy? What happened this time, did
Floyd | she get you enrolled into MIT?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Academy Videos 0 / 2
Floyd | >Floyd | > X ACTIONFloyd |
Floyd | It's constructed from a cheap wood board, and sags quite a bit due to
Floyd | the number of movies placed within it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Inside the action rack is a movie from action rack.
Floyd |
Floyd | Pang clears his throat and holds up a copy of Blade. "I have
Floyd | found the movie for us all tonight," he states, with an annoying
Floyd | authority. "It has electronica and vampires, as all classics should."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Blade?" screeches Criswell. He's another one of my
Floyd | roommates. "They merged techno music and goths for that one. No
Floyd | chance. No way. And if you pick out one that merges country music with
Floyd | the French art film or opera with a Pixar kiddie flick I will drop
Floyd | trou and take a crap on the TV while it's playing."
Floyd |
Floyd | Criswell's only half joking, as he's demonstrated his willingness to
Floyd | do that before. When his favorite CFL football team lost in the finals
Floyd | last year he was so pissed off at the TV for depicting it that he
Floyd | grabbed a chair from the kitchen, got up and plopped a steaming load
Floyd | on top of the set. Worse, it was two weeks before anyone cleaned it
Floyd | up. We had a veritable bumper crop of flies around the house that
Floyd | year.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Academy Videos 1 / 3
Floyd | >Floyd | > TAKE ACTION MOVIEFloyd |
Floyd | I grab a movie from the rack. And behold! It's The Lord of theFloyd | Rings. Why on earth the dip behind the counter would deign to
Floyd | keep it in this rack is beyond my comprehension. But it
Floyd | doesn't matter. I don't really possess the discipline to go get
Floyd | something else.
Floyd |
Floyd | "OK, I'm set," says Criswell. "Truman Show. Jim Carrey is the
Floyd | funniest man alive. This'll be a gem. Hey, Duffy, you
Floyd | bringin' that chick you hang around with over tonight? Well, thank me
Floyd | later, man, 'cos she'll be all out of giggles by the time you pull off
Floyd | your pants. For once, anyway."
Floyd |
Floyd | Barnaby idly toys with a movie and then puts it back on the shelf.
Floyd | "There were some real hotties at that Bead Store, the other day," he
Floyd | says to me. "Cute, but not so cute that they would have nothing to do
Floyd | with you, I mean."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Academy Videos 1 / 4
Floyd | >Floyd | > X VIDEOFloyd |
Floyd | The clerk at Academy Videos is famous through New Haz for being one of
Floyd | its most smug and sarcastic citizens. He will always criticize a
Floyd | customer's movie choice unless it's one of the ten or fifteen films
Floyd | that he thinks are classic. He is wearing a hypercolor shirt like all
Floyd | employees in the chain, as well as a pair of dirty sweatpants.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yo, fruit loops," says the clerk to the lot of us, "I'm shutting this
Floyd | store down to go get a full body massage from the Taiwanese Parlor
Floyd | down the street. Pronto. Get your movies and get out."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Full-body?" asks Barnaby. "That means they give you a hand job,
Floyd | right?" The clerk perks up and nods gleefully. "Hey, I've always
Floyd | wondered..." Barnaby decides exactly how he wants to phrase it. "Is it
Floyd | customary to let them know when you're about to come? Like, a warning?
Floyd | Or do you not have to do that because they are professionals?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Nobody says anything for a few moments. I shrug. "I guess it depends
Floyd | on whether you're a sprayer or a lumper," I say.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Academy Videos 1 / 6
Floyd | >Floyd | > X HORRORFloyd |
Floyd | The horror rack used to be pretty good, but it's fallen into anarchy
Floyd | just like all the other racks. Criswell once accidentally rented
Floyd | Beaches from this rack and failed to note it was a chick
Floyd | flick. He's the only guy in the city that thinks the best horror flick
Floyd | of all-time doesn't feature Bruce Campbell or Bill Chepil or whoever,
Floyd | but rather Bette Midler.
Floyd |
Floyd | A grime-encrusted area denizen slams his hand on the door and the
Floyd | clerk reluctantly lets him in. The thing shambles his way into the
Floyd | video store. He leaves muddy streaks upon the entrance door, drawing
Floyd | the further ire of the clerk.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey, what the hell is the matter with you, cracky?" I suppose that I
Floyd | disagree that the new denizen is a crackhead (he meanders more in his
Floyd | movement than he shakes, I mean). But I don't say anything. The clerk
Floyd | points a stern finger at him from across the counter. "Can't you read?
Floyd | We're closed! Get out of here!"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Academy Videos 1 / 7
Floyd | >Floyd | > X CRACKHEADFloyd |
Floyd | This creature is covered in a thick grit. He (it?) is draped in a
Floyd | musty flannel and shambles about with an unwholesome gait. His
Floyd | forearms are unnaturally long and jaundiced, and his there are several
Floyd | patches of mosiaced-over scabs and seeping wounds covering his face
Floyd | and neck.
Floyd |
Floyd | The area denizen grabs at the clerk's neck! He gets two hands round
Floyd | the clerk's esophagus, and begins choking the life right out of him!
Floyd |
Floyd | The clerk gurgles in pain! I hear a guttural moaning sound coming from
Floyd | the attacker. The violence causes Pang and Criswell to hide in the
Floyd | back of the store.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey!" says Barnaby, "Knock it off! Let him go!"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "Talking to the clerk isn't an option any more."

smartgenes asks, "trip zombie?"

Zach says, "Hey, that zombie is cutting in line!"

DavidW says, "Might want to try hitting the crackhead or leaving."

smartgenes asks, "get flannel?"

inky says (to Floyd), "x armament"

Floyd ] Academy Videos 1 / 8
Floyd | >Floyd | > X ARMAMENTFloyd |
Floyd | I should first say something about the city of New Haz and explain why
Floyd | a video clerk would be packing heat.
Floyd |
Floyd | Culturally, New Haz is kind of a stinking dump. It's been described as
Floyd | everything from a holding cell for miscreants and scuzzballs, to a
Floyd | bleak planned community gone horribly and violently wrong, to a
Floyd | slightly Utopian New Haven, Connecticut. I like it so much I live
Floyd | thirty-five minutes away, and believe me when I say that I would not
Floyd | work here if the Fort had a mall. Truthfully, it used to be a lot
Floyd | worse before some kid brought to justice 80% of the city's Most Wanted
Floyd | Criminals a while back. But it's nevertheless rather rough, and you're
Floyd | legally required to possess a firearm to enter the west side.
Floyd |
Floyd | This gun uses nail magazines, and fires them off slowly and messily,
Floyd | one at a time. Nice accuracy, but it has no spray or automatic
Floyd | settings. It's on the small side, as small as the manufacturer could
Floyd | go without embracing the "ladies choice" designation.
Floyd |
Floyd | This weapon has 7 shots remaining.
Floyd |
Floyd | The grimy denizen throttles the clerk!
Floyd |
Floyd | The clerk slumps to the floor, disappearing behind the register
Floyd | counter.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Christ, Duffy, get the goddamn gun!" screams Barnaby. The guy
Floyd | (creature, whatever it is) is between the gun and Barnaby. It emits a
Floyd | throaty snarl and slowly shambles toward him. Barnaby gives the door a
Floyd | couple solid kicks and opens it.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Academy Videos 12 / 12
Floyd | >Floyd | > X CLERKFloyd |
Floyd | The clerk at Academy Videos is famous through New Haz for being one of
Floyd | its most smug and sarcastic citizens. He will always criticize a
Floyd | customer's movie choice unless it's one of the ten or fifteen films
Floyd | that he thinks are classic. He is wearing a hypercolor shirt like all
Floyd | employees in the chain, as well as a pair of dirty sweatpants.
Floyd |
Floyd | He is currently knocked out.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Academy Videos 12 / 14
Floyd | >Floyd | > X ZOMBIEFloyd |
Floyd | This creature is covered in a thick grit. He (it?) is draped in a
Floyd | musty flannel that hasn't been in fashion since Gygax was happily
Floyd | married to his first wife. His forearms are unnaturally long and
Floyd | jaundiced, and his there are several patches of mosiaced-over scabs
Floyd | and seeping wounds covering his face and neck.
Floyd |
Floyd | It is currently knocked out.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Academy Videos 12 / 20
Floyd | >Floyd | > X DRAMAFloyd |
Floyd | The drama rack should, in theory, contain a bunch of films that are
Floyd | shown on TNN, but it instead contains a hodgepodge of differently
Floyd | genred flicks. Criswell once took the DVD that Gibs shot a couple
Floyd | years ago where he was apologizing to his girlfriend for getting into
Floyd | a threesome at this one guy Avandre's bachelor party and put it in
Floyd | this rack. That was some serious drama. But I think Gibs rented and
Floyd | destroyed it when he found out.
Floyd |
Floyd | >Floyd ] Academy Videos 12 / 20
Floyd | >Floyd | > READ POSTERFloyd |
Floyd | I can't do that with the posters.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW asks, "Who's barnaby?"

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "x posters"

Floyd ] Academy Videos 12 / 21
Floyd | >Floyd | > X POSTERSFloyd |
Floyd | An original Day of the Dead promo has been tacked onto the
Floyd | wall. That's really the only one of note. There are some other ones
Floyd | that I can't make out, and by 'make out,' I mean 'they were filmed in
Floyd | the sixties so I have no idea what their deal is.'
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Academy Videos 12 / 22
Floyd | >Floyd | > LFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Academy VideosFloyd | The inside of the video store looks like it was slapped together in a
Floyd | weekend by enslaved, tool-wielding howler monkeys and routinely
Floyd | cleaned by an anosmic with all the enthusiasm of a man who lost a bet.
Floyd | Rotting floorboards create a random topography that would put the
Floyd | landshifts and valleys of the legendary Umar Hills to shame. Faded
Floyd | posters cover much of the surface area of the walls, and a few of them
Floyd | have begun peeling or been stricken with graffiti.
Floyd |
Floyd | All the available movies have been shoved into racks labeled with one
Floyd | of four categories: Action, Drama, Fantasy and Horror. Alphabetical
Floyd | order isn't implemented in any of them either, so trying to find a
Floyd | specific movie is often futile. It's usually best just to look along
Floyd | the racks and hope something good catches your eye.
Floyd |
Floyd | There's an exit east to Main Street.
Floyd | Gibs, Pang, Criswell, the clerk, and the creature are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "we probably want to scram"

smartgenes says, "sounds good"

Zach says (to Floyd), "out"

Floyd ] Main Street 17 / 23
Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Main StreetFloyd | The stench of the city of New Haz hits me like a cruel sucker-punch
Floyd | through the septum. It's a ringing, persistent odor. One of sewage
Floyd | mixed with old gasoline. I shift to breathing exclusively through my
Floyd | mouth. But fortunately we'll be out of here soon enough (and before
Floyd | the stink can settle on my clothes.)
Floyd | My car is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Gibs, Pang, and Criswell are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | "What the hell was that in there?" asks Pang.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Who knows?" says Barnaby. "Who cares? Let's just go. At least by
Floyd | putting down the homeless guy inside he won't get grime nor slime over
Floyd | Duffy's windshield in some half-assed attempt to clean it."
Floyd |
Floyd | "I thought you knew that guy, Duffy," says Criswell, unhelpfully, as
Floyd | if that somehow explains why he was cowering in the corner.
Floyd |
Floyd | We need to get in my car and get out of here quickly -- both before
Floyd | the cops come round due to the encounter with that thing in the store,
Floyd | but also before the city's ripe stench can settle into our clothes.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | >Floyd | > START CARFloyd |
Floyd | (Entering my car first...)
Floyd |
Floyd | I double-check to make sure everyone's into the car.
Floyd |
Floyd | The guy from inside keeps clawing away at the passenger side of my
Floyd | car.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Drive, dammit, drive!" screeches Criswell from the backseat.
Floyd | "Get us outta here!"
Floyd |
Floyd | I put the car in reverse and prepare to get the hell out of town. The
Floyd | guy staggers over and gets right in my path.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hit 'em, Duffy!" Criswell's going crazy back there. "Run him over!"
Floyd |
Floyd | I put the car in first and stomp the accelerator more out of panic
Floyd | than anything else. The guy doesn't move, flinch, anything. I ram him
Floyd | and he smacks right into the windshield, chipping it with his elbow.
Floyd | He tumbles about and we hear him on the roof for a moment before
Floyd | seeing his face appear on the back window, shocking the hell out of
Floyd | Pang and Criswell. I downshift from third gear back into second for a
Floyd | moment which causes my car to red line and enough of a jolt for him to
Floyd | fall off completely. I see him, through the rear-view mirror, take a
Floyd | vicious fall onto the road, bouncing against it at painful angles like
Floyd | a discarded rag doll.
Floyd |
Floyd | Nobody says anything for a second, until Criswell pops opens his
Floyd | mouth. "That... man, that was awesome!!"
Floyd |
Floyd | "You don't think I killed that guy, do you? Do you think he's OK?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "It was probably a bot," says Gibs. "Look, he was trying to attack us,
Floyd | anyway."
Floyd |
Floyd | "That's true," says Pang. "Both items are totally true."
Floyd |
Floyd | I get us on the Interstate and head north, back towards home. I chuck
Floyd | the gun out the window on the way back. Nobody says anything else
Floyd | until I drop Gibs off and get the rest of us back to the house...

smartgenes asks, "or just DRIVE?"

inky says, "probably a bot"

Zach asks, "What? Since when is mindless robot killing OK?"

smartgenes asks, "this is a Bladerunner movie?"

says (to Floyd), "It's OK, Floyd. Don't pay any attention."

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "look"

Floyd |

Zach pushes the green 'space' button.

Floyd ] Chapter Two
Floyd | I've only been on, really, truly on... once in my life.
Floyd |
Floyd | It was about five years ago. The first week of March. The Wizards of
Floyd | the Coast (the company that publishes all the D&D books these days)
Floyd | were sponsoring a huge, two-day tournament in the Fort. I signed up
Floyd | for it with Barnaby, who used to be more into this kind of thing back
Floyd | then, and we started gaming it on a Saturday morning.
Floyd |
Floyd | It wasn't a 'competitive' tournament, per se, especially since around
Floyd | that time the two local gangs of Korean role players had pretty much
Floyd | wiped each other out when an on-line housing refresh dispute went from
Floyd | the virtual world of the internet to the physical one of reality,
Floyd | resulting in thirteen dead and seven wounded. That would have normally
Floyd | taken the edge off for the rest of us for the whole of the weekend,
Floyd | but we soon found out that WotC were putting up an eight-thousand
Floyd | dollar first prize for the weekend's 'Most Outstanding Roleplayer.'
Floyd | When I found that out, something clicked inside me, and I drew from a
Floyd | strength of personality I didn't know I had.
Floyd |
Floyd | All day the dice were with me. Just about every time I threw a
Floyd | twenty-sided die I got an incredibly favorable result. I started
Floyd | getting a bit more bold and soon found that the other kids at my table
Floyd | started following me. Looking to me for direction, for
Floyd | decisions, for witticisms. I became bolder and overly gregarious. I
Floyd | hardly needed any of the booty the game's Dungeon Master was giving us
Floyd | in-game, and won over the entire table through generosity. I was
Floyd | confident and having fun being me for the first time ever.
Floyd |
Floyd | My luck stayed with me when I went to different tables and played with
Floyd | different people. When the tournament finished the next day, I was
Floyd | awarded the top prize and a check for $8,000. I accepted it graciously
Floyd | and thanked everyone I played with for giving me the chance to shine.
Floyd | As Barnaby and I were rounding up our backpacks and bags of dice, I
Floyd | Xeroxed a copy of my character sheet, signed my name and phone number
Floyd | to it, and gave it to the cutest girl who seemed single during the
Floyd | event, someone I had played with on the first day.
Floyd |
Floyd | When I got home, I spent the entire check on a car and a new wardrobe.
Floyd | I had nothing left of it by Tuesday.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey didn't call the number on the sheet, maybe because it was a
Floyd | pompous act of nigh-Olympic level. But when she dropped by the Mall
Floyd | later that week I asked her out on a date. She said yes and has been
Floyd | in various states of flabbergastation with me over the years that have
Floyd | followed.
Floyd |
Floyd | I got my car, clothes and relationship within a lucky streak that
Floyd | lasted 48 hours five years ago. And I've been living off that success
Floyd | ever since. I'd confess that in my darker moments, when I am at my
Floyd | most honest, it rather spooks me to know that I have essentially been
Floyd | stagnant ever since.

DavidW says (to Floyd), "push enter"

Floyd ] Living Room 22 / 28
Floyd | stagnant ever since.
Floyd | Living RoomFloyd | I live in a four-bedroom rented house in a college town we all call
Floyd | 'The Fort.' The exterior to this place was kind of beat up when we
Floyd | decided to rent here, and through the last three years we've worked
Floyd | our hardest to make the interior nicely match.
Floyd | Sitting corpulently in the blue couch is Pang.
Floyd | On the tattered couch are the green blanket and the pillow. Sitting
Floyd | on the entertainment center are the television and the DVD player.
Floyd | Sitting on the table are Vecna's hand, the Dreamcast, the bottle of
Floyd | wine, a cup, the Blade DVD, the The Truman Show DVD, and the Lord of
Floyd | the Rings DVD.
Floyd |
Floyd | The other three guys who live here include Pang and Criswell and
Floyd | another guy named Leary who isn't around much. (But then, he's an
Floyd | engineer and the only guy with his life remotely in order.) Criswell
Floyd | found most of our crummy furniture when he went Dumpster Diving a
Floyd | while back, and we place blankets over the rotting parts like they
Floyd | were giant cloth band-aids to hide their pronounced ghetto factor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW asks, "I wonder if we get LOTR regardless of which rack we take the movie from?"

Floyd ] Living Room 22 / 30
Floyd | >Floyd | > X VECNA'S HAND
Floyd |
Floyd | Vecna was a bad-ass (and quite mad) guy described in the original D&D
Floyd | game. One of the game's artifacts was his 'hand,' and this is a
Floyd | novelty item that they passed out at DragonCon a few years back.
Floyd |
Floyd | There's a knock at the door. It's probably Audrey.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Living Room 22 / 32
Floyd | >Floyd | > OPEN DOORFloyd |
Floyd | I let Audrey inside, and give her a kiss on the cheek.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hello, Jarret..." she looks over and sees Pang on the couch. Distaste
Floyd | can't help but crawl across her face. "So... what have we got planned
Floyd | for tonight?"
Floyd |
Floyd | I see Audrey for the first time. I probably should have gotten the
Floyd | door for her.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Thanks for getting the door, jerk," she says. Ouch. This isn't good,
Floyd | I've managed to come off as irritating before she'd even entered the
Floyd | house. I usually have ten minutes of grace period.
Floyd |
Floyd | "I was in the bathroom, brushing my hair so it would look nice and
Floyd | stylish for you," I say with a shrug.
Floyd |
Floyd | "It's a brush. Not a magic wand. You know... I've never met a man who
Floyd | was so obsessed with his hair. But anyway. What are we doing tonight?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "no, I think it'll be real Audrey. Gotta have an actual girl in this movie."

DavidW says, "and again, the game has very little tolerance for wasted actions."

Zach says (to DavidW), "She'll become a zombie later, and then we'll realize that our disfunctional relationship wasn't working out"

Floyd ] Living Room 22 / 34
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "A movie. Oh-kay," she says. "Which theatre?" she asks, hopefully.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Casa de Duffy, funnily enough."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Funnily enough? What's so funny, or fun, about being cooped
Floyd | up in this house for the millionth time?" She puts her hands on her
Floyd | hips, which is an subconscious indicator that she's starting to get
Floyd | agitated. "You really don't want to leave and do something?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Well, it's not ha-ha funny, no," I tell her. "Look, we got some good
Floyd | stuff. I broke the bank here. If you don't like the films then at
Floyd | least you've got me providing Tom-Servo-style running commentary."
Floyd |
Floyd | She relaxes her pose and waves her hand in a dismissal of her
Floyd | argument. "Okay, okay... but you'd better be on, Jarret
Floyd | Duffy. What's your term for it? Comedy Jupiter? It had better be
Floyd | Comedy Jupiter."
Floyd |
Floyd | "You betcha. I'll even throw in Io and Europa." I'm not quite sure
Floyd | what that means, but those were the only two moons I could recall in a
Floyd | pinch, so.
Floyd |
Floyd | Pang puts the copy of Blade into the DVD player.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW asks, "sit on tattered couch?"

Zach says, "Yay, riffing"

Zach says (to DavidW), "Sure. You can drive because of the timers."

DavidW says (to Floyd), "sit on tattered couch"

Floyd ] Living Room 22 / 35
Floyd | >Floyd | > SIT ON TATTERED COUCHFloyd |
Floyd | I sit down on the tattered couch.
Floyd |
Floyd | Living Room, on a tattered couchFloyd | This room is centered around the television, a 32" Sony that Leary
Floyd | brought when he moved in. The set sits on a wooden entertainment
Floyd | center, with 'satellite' speakers all around the room. The tattered
Floyd | white couch is perpendicular to the set, and the blue one (where Pang
Floyd | normally situates himself) is eight or nine feet directly across from
Floyd | it.
Floyd | On the tattered couch are the green blanket and the pillow.
Floyd | Sitting corpulently in the blue couch is Pang.
Floyd | Sitting on the entertainment center are the television and the DVD
Floyd | player. Inside the DVD player is the Blade DVD. Sitting on the table
Floyd | are Vecna's hand, the Dreamcast, a cup, the The Truman Show DVD, and
Floyd | the Lord of the Rings DVD.
Floyd | Audrey is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | "What.. aw, hell, what the hell is this, Pang?" asks Criswell, as he
Floyd | enters. "Oh, hey, by the way, I don't think we're gonna be able to
Floyd | keep beers at the neighbor's house any longer. Someone has begun the
Floyd | moving-in process. Wait, did you end up getting this fucking
Floyd | Blade thing? Oh, Kee-rist!"
Floyd |
Floyd | I don't understand why Criswell is so against this movie. I guess I
Floyd | could ask him, or something, if I really cared. Only I don't. I just
Floyd | want him gone.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Just watch the movie," says Pang.
Floyd |
Floyd | "No!" exclaims Criswell. "I'm gonna make The Call!"
Floyd |
Floyd | "You're not going to have a quorum," says Pang.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Living Room 22 / 36
Floyd | >Floyd | > STAND UPFloyd |
Floyd | I get up off the tattered couch.
Floyd |
Floyd | Leary walks down the stairs. He gives everyone a 'hey' and waves to
Floyd | Audrey.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yo, Leary, what's your take on Blade?" asks Criswell.
Floyd |
Floyd | Pang's not thrilled about opinions being offered up on his choice
Floyd | before the opening credits are even finished.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Ehh," says Leary as he picks up the phone to make a call. "Not my
Floyd | thing. Nothing personal, Panger."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Damn fuckin' straight!" says Criswell. "I'm makin' the call! The Call
Floyd | for Ejection! Duffy? What're you saying?"
Floyd |
Floyd | I don't know how to go with this one. On one hand, it could mean that
Floyd | my movie will get played and these two morons will leave out of
Floyd | boredom. On the other hand -- just how freaking immature am I going to
Floyd | come across?
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Living Room 22 / 37
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 2Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Not especially," she says. "I think I saw it when it first came out."
Floyd |
Floyd | "What? Are you kidding me?" I think about the math for a second. "By
Floyd | my calculations, you were eight when it came out. You mean to tell me
Floyd | that the Neuromancer didn't like you dating me at first because at
Floyd | three years your elder, I was a bad example, but he was OK with you
Floyd | watching a movie where Snipes hacks apart vampires for 90 minutes?" I
Floyd | call her father 'The Neuromancer' because his first name is Henry, and
Floyd | the main character of the novel _Neuromancer_ is named Henry Case.
Floyd | I've been lucky in not saying it when he's been around so far.
Floyd |
Floyd | "I was very mature for my age," she replies. "I think we'd have been a
Floyd | perfect match, intellectually, if you met me when I was eight and you
Floyd | were twenty-seven.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey, what about if you met me?" says Criswell.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Two," Audrey and I say at the same time.
Floyd |
Floyd | "The thumb points down, bitchkin!" says Criswell to Pang. It was
Floyd | inevitable that he was going to pull the movie no matter what popular
Floyd | choice happened to be. Criswell hops over to the DVD player and ejects
Floyd | the disc. He places The Truman Show in. "We're now starin'
Floyd | down the barrel of a whole lotta giggles," he says to Audrey.
Floyd |
Floyd | I keep one eye trained underneath the sofa in case Audrey's rolling
Floyd | eyes pop out of her head.
Floyd |
Floyd | "What are you talking about?" she says. Audrey has never, ever liked
Floyd | Criswell. "This is a drama, not a ninety minute episode of 'White Guys
Floyd | Gone Jostling.'" Criswell's head strains to the side as he
Floyd | simultaneously doesn't believe her and doesn't comprehend her.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey continues. "You know what drama is, right? It's the name given
Floyd | to a movie that adults tend to enjoy, as well as being the
Floyd | standard root cause of every Linkin Park song."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yeah, whatever." Criswell shrugs. "I bet you Truman here is making
Floyd | like he's talking out of his ass before the opening credits are
Floyd | finished."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW asks (of Zach), "really? Give her a chance to say she'll be shopping for a new boyfriend later?"

Zach says, "Aww"

DavidW says, "we're doomed"

DavidW says (to Floyd), "2"

Floyd ] Living Room 22 / 38
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 2Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Probably storming out of here in anger," she says. I give her one of
Floyd | those looks that would look more in place on a puppet after the jaw
Floyd | string got cut. "Just kidding," she says after a beat. "You're
Floyd | working, right? I am actually going to be at the Mall, 'funnily
Floyd | enough.'" She does that, sometimes, claim my cliched remarks as her
Floyd | own. "Sydney and a few of my other friends will be at the Bead Store.
Floyd | I'll stop by."
Floyd |
Floyd | Five minutes elapse. The only possession Criswell has left is the
Floyd | dumbfounded look upon his face.
Floyd |
Floyd | Minute seven comes and Pang can't help himself any longer.
Floyd |
Floyd | "You stupid, simple... child," he says, quietly. "Next week
Floyd | go get Good Will Hunting -- Robin Williams is hilarious in
Floyd | it." Pang points his thumb down.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says, "Everyone's a critic"

DavidW says (to Floyd), "wait"

Floyd ] Living Room 22 / 39
Floyd | >Floyd | > WAITFloyd |
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | Leary turns around from his phone call and squints a bit at the TV. He
Floyd | chuckles, points his own thumb down for a second and then turns back
Floyd | away from the living room. Pang wiggles the Vecna's Hand toy around
Floyd | with its thumb pointing down in order to taunt Criswell just a bit
Floyd | more.
Floyd |
Floyd | Pang gets up to change the movie.
Floyd |
Floyd | He places in Lord of the Rings, apparently without really
Floyd | recognizing what it is. The intro starts. Audrey lets out a sigh. I
Floyd | have no idea if I'm correctly interpreting it, but I'm guessing that
Floyd | she's resigned herself to at least watching the movie on the TV
Floyd | screen.
Floyd |
Floyd | "What the shit is this?" asks Criswell. "More fuckin' ghouls and orcs
Floyd | and shit?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says, "I guess the Bead Store is where the cool kids hang out nowadays. I'm so out of touch."

Floyd ] Living Room 27 / 42
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 2Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Pang doesn't say anything at first, a bit taken aback by my outburst.
Floyd |
Floyd | "You two fucking pieces of shit really make me sick. I know neither
Floyd | one of you have the looks or personality to ever get a fucking girl to
Floyd | come over here more than once, but for me, you two acting like a bunch
Floyd | of immature little fucks just pisses me the hell right off. What the
Floyd | fuck is wrong with you? How fucking old are you?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey, look -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "Just shut the fuck up, Chunky. This is the last fucking time. If this
Floyd | shit ever happens again -- if you or your little sidekick are anywhere
Floyd | NEAR me when I have her over, I will fucking break both of you."
Floyd |
Floyd | Pang doesn't say anything. He just looks over towards Criswell.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Ellison says, "#belatedly yeah, this is the new version that I uploaded. the original would crash in a glk terp after a couple moves, I think."

smartgenes says, "hmm irritating swearing level"

DavidW asks, "talk to criswell? or ... which way is to the bedroom, anyway?"

Zach says, "Yeah, maybe we should go after Audrey"

DavidW says (to Floyd), "go to bedroom"

Floyd ] Bedroom 27 / 43
Floyd | >Floyd | > GO TO BEDROOMFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | BedroomFloyd | My bedroom's the smallest one in the house. (I got here last so I got
Floyd | the skankiest room.) There's not a whole lot going on in here, just
Floyd | some shelves with all my crap on it and a bed. It smells a bit less
Floyd | like cigarettes than it used to since I have gone a week and a half
Floyd | since my last one.
Floyd |
Floyd | "What the hell was that?" asks Audrey. "When are you going to get
Floyd | it... this has got to stop."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Bedroom 27 / 44
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 2Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Well, when is it going to stop? I mean, really. They're animals."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Oh, come on now! You're over-reacting if you really think that."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Fine, Leary isn't. But he's never around. Those other two? They're
Floyd | out there right now hurling feces at one another while masturbating,
Floyd | sorry, furiously masturbating and you know it."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Look, I can't help my roommates, OK?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yes, you can, Jarret! You're better than this! We're better than
Floyd | this. You're too intelligent and talented to be working for minimum
Floyd | wage. But because you are, you have to live with three other people."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Look, I happen to like my job. Shouldn't that account for something?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Jarret, if you had as little going for you as Pang and Criswell then
Floyd | I wouldn't care. I really wouldn't. But I know you better, and I know
Floyd | that with the smallest bit of drive or ambition you could be writing,
Floyd | writing well. The guy that I fell in love with was the
Floyd | greatest storyteller, er, albeit in the fantasy genre, that I had ever
Floyd | met. And you're just sitting on that gift. Seeing you waste yourself
Floyd | like this isn't fun."
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "Well, what is fun, then? Educate me."
Floyd | (2) "What? Come on, we were just goofing around in there."
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

smartgenes says, "prefer 2 for sure"

DavidW says, "You want 2? I want 1."

DavidW says, "2 indicates we're not really listening to her."

smartgenes says, "i meant for the previous dialogue... both of these are a little inane"

Floyd ] Bedroom 27 / 46
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Well, I appreciate the sentiment, Jarret, but it's been like this for
Floyd | a while now. I don't know if it's just the inevitable ennui you get
Floyd | when you reach your late twenties or what, but that kind of brings me
Floyd | to what I wanted to talk about when I came over tonight..."
Floyd |
Floyd | I realize now that we're probably only just getting started with what
Floyd | she wants to discuss. Geez. Well, I'll try to keep this quick.
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "Lay it on me, then. What's up?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

Floyd ] Bedroom 27 / 48
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 2Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | She shakes her head, she doesn't understand what I mean.
Floyd |
Floyd | "I'm just saying, if you're going to move the hell away then don't
Floyd | beat around the bush. Get to some place that I'll really never be able
Floyd | to see you." For the record, I thought that mentioning Persephone or
Floyd | another Kuiper Belt object would have come off as too sarcastic, but I
Floyd | don't tell her that.
Floyd |
Floyd | "That's not why I am going there. Why are you being so thick with
Floyd | this? What on earth is keeping you here?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "So you want me to come with you?"
Floyd |
Floyd | She pauses before answering. "With you like this? No. No, I don't want
Floyd | this version of you coming with me. I don't think you get just how
Floyd | much I am into you, Jarret. And it's painful to see you like this. The
Floyd | guy that I fell for and have been with all these years would not get
Floyd | defensive about simply moving somewhere."
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "Look... I have to get to work."
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

Zach says, "(you can blame A Prairie Home Companion for that one)"

DavidW says (to Floyd), "1"

Floyd ] Bedroom 27 / 49
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "I understand," she says.
Floyd |
Floyd | Technically, I had a couple hours before I was due at work, but I
Floyd | might as well go in early and pick up some overtime.
Floyd | "We can talk about this after I get out of there, right?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Of course," she says. Again, in her terse form of communicating more
Floyd | without words than with.
Floyd |
Floyd | "I get out at eleven. Gibs might want me to do his radio show but I
Floyd | will blow it off if so. I'll give you a call when I get home, okay?"
Floyd |
Floyd | She nods, gives me a hug and leaves my room.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

says, "I mainly uploaded this to Floyd just to test it myself, but you guys are admirable for being able to sit through the long textdump pauses. I wasn't aware that Floyd did that."

Zach says, "I'm enjoying it so far"

Zach asks, "Get ready for work?"

DavidW asks, "hm. What do we do now? Wait? 'Go to work'? Shower?"

Ellison says, "that said, I've got to go. hope nothing breaks!"

Ellison goes back to Squeamhurst..

Ellison has disconnected.

smartgenes says, "hmm i wonder how we were going to watch a film when we were shortly due at work"

Floyd ] Living Room 27 / 50
Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Living RoomFloyd | This room is centered around the television, a 32" Sony that Leary
Floyd | brought when he moved in. The set sits on a wooden entertainment
Floyd | center, with 'satellite' speakers all around the room. The tattered
Floyd | white couch is perpendicular to the set, and the blue one (where Pang
Floyd | normally situates himself) is eight or nine feet directly across from
Floyd | it.
Floyd | On the tattered couch are the green blanket and the pillow. Sitting
Floyd | on the entertainment center are the television and the DVD player.
Floyd | Inside the DVD player is the Lord of the Rings DVD. Sitting on the
Floyd | table are Vecna's hand, the Dreamcast, a cup, the Blade DVD, and the
Floyd | The Truman Show DVD.
Floyd | Criswell, Pang, and Audrey are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Oh, Jesus Christ!" exclaims Audrey. "What the hell are you two chimps
Floyd | doing? Goddess, I don't need this shit. Goodbye!"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd | I shake my head at my horrible home life and leave for work...

DavidW pushes the green 'space' button.

Floyd ] Chapter Three
Floyd | I'm still rather pissed off when I pull up into the Mall parking lot
Floyd | and showroom park my car. What kind of game is Audrey playing here?
Floyd | Surely she's bluffing. We've gone to Defcon 2 or maybe 3 before, but
Floyd | we were always able to talk one another down before the bombshells
Floyd | were dropped.
Floyd |
Floyd | I didn't want to have to go into work tonight worrying about this kind
Floyd | of crap. My job becomes a lot easier when I'm able to turn off the
Floyd | parts of my mind that don't deal with twenty-sided dice, Player's
Floyd | Handbooks and noticing customer body odor. The greatest curse you can
Floyd | inflict upon someone who works at the Mall is getting them to fret.
Floyd |
Floyd | (And the greatest curse you can inflict upon yourself while at the
Floyd | Mall is to attempt to stop smoking. I seriously picked a bad week for
Floyd | it.)
Floyd |
Floyd | I walk down to the east end of the Mall, avoid the guy taking surveys,
Floyd | and enter my store.

DavidW pushes the green 'space' button.

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 27 / 52
Floyd |
Floyd | Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing EmporiumFloyd | Trott had been working the evening shift; I greet him and take my
Floyd | usual place behind the counter. There's really no reason for two of us
Floyd | to close the store, except that Benji (the owner) is still a little
Floyd | freaked after someone tried to blow up his arcade next door a couple
Floyd | of weeks ago. It's unlikely that we'll have any customers, though, so
Floyd | Trott and I should be able to logout the register and drop the gate
Floyd | quickly when the time comes.
Floyd | The counter contains the Magic: The Gathering cards.
Floyd | The counter has a postcard on it.
Floyd | Trott is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 27 / 54
Floyd | >Floyd | > X POSTCARDFloyd |
Floyd | It's a postcard sent from a friend of Trott's.
Floyd |
Floyd | It reads, "Greetings from New Mexico, Trotskie! Clara and I areFloyd | living in a town called -- get this -- 'Rockville' of all things. It'sFloyd | right near Alamogordo, too, which is the city where Atari buried allFloyd | those E.T. cartridges. I'll probably make the trip to check out theFloyd | site one of these days. Clara has been completing her degree off theFloyd | internet, and I've already cracked and released my first ware. It'sFloyd | great to be back in the loop! Keep it cool and hopefully we'll be backFloyd | for a visit later this year. Try to remember to lovingly palm theFloyd | breasts of the corpses you've been slabbing lately, bud! You know theyFloyd | like that. Your pal, Delarion."Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey, Duffy, solid. Glad you're here," says Barnaby. He puts his big
Floyd | gulp drink down by the counter. "Got a question for you."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky asks, "which is that a ref to? Fallacy of Dawn?"

DavidW says, "I don't know."

inky | In a substantial introduction, Delarion explains that he is working at Benji's Video Arcade; that he is addicted to a drug called rephasia; that he and his girlfriend Nevelle used to work as software pirates until they got caught, and she disappeared; and that Delarion was thrown into New Haz and rendered unable to operate or understand any electronic devices. His aim is to make enough money to get out of New Haz.

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 27 / 62
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 2Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Nah, pretty slow night actually. Benji waddled in around five or six
Floyd | and the usual bunch of backpack-wearing kids bought their Magic:Floyd | The Gathering packs after classes let out. Other than that,
Floyd | nothing of note. Why's Benji even having two of us close the store
Floyd | these days?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "He still thinks that the bomb that was planted in the arcade a few
Floyd | weeks back had something to do with him. He's as paranoid as a
Floyd | dope-smoking Everquest player chilling in a Greek Net cafe."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 27 / 65
Floyd | >Floyd | > X GLASSESFloyd |
Floyd | My glasses have gone from being in style to out with such regularity
Floyd | that I don't even notice any longer. If geek chic is in these days
Floyd | then I'm all set. If not, at least I can see well.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says (to Floyd), "about"

Floyd | >Floyd | > ABOUTFloyd |
Floyd | Necrotic DriftFloyd | Interactive Fiction
Floyd | Copyright (c) 2004. Written and programmed by Robb Sherwin
Floyd | Release 1.03 / Serial number 040623 / Hugo 3.1
Floyd |
Floyd | NECROTIC DRIFT was written between December of 2001 and May of 2004.
Floyd |
Floyd | Minimum Recommended Resolution: 1024x768x16b.
Floyd | Platforms Supported : All graphics-enabled Hugo platforms.
Floyd |
Floyd | Conversation and violence are oftentimes the key to solving problems
Floyd | in this game. You can instruct Duffy to speak with someone by typing
Floyd | "TALK to character" (or simply TFloyd | character, for short). The resulting menu allows the player
Floyd | to pick from a menu of what you'd like your character to say. The game
Floyd | will then respond with the NPC's response. For details on the game's
Floyd | combat system, consult the Help Menu.
Floyd |
Floyd | It is not possible to get the game in an completely unfinishable
Floyd | state. In certain situations, the player is allowed to solve different
Floyd | puzzles at his/her leisure, and information pertaining to those
Floyd | unsolved puzzles will be repeated when necessary to cut down on
Floyd | required player memorization. Please type "HELP" for a brief
Floyd | Command Summary, further answers to common gameplay questions, and
Floyd | this ware's design notes & credits.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 27 / 69
Floyd | >Floyd | > X KIOSKFloyd |
Floyd | Benji bought up a bunch of skanky, rotting shelves from some other
Floyd | business here in the Mall that went under a while back. He moved the
Floyd | nice, clean ones that we had previously to his home when he was
Floyd | installing his home theatre system. These shelves have a stench to
Floyd | them which I'm sure probably gets into my clothes and on my person to
Floyd | a disgusting degree.
Floyd | Sitting on the shelves are some gaming manuals.
Floyd |
Floyd | Sitting on the shelves are some gaming manuals.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 27 / 83
Floyd | >Floyd | > X STOOLFloyd |
Floyd | The Game Store stool is a very short and incredibly uncomfortable
Floyd | 4-legged stool that we prop ourselves on when we know that Benji isn't
Floyd | going to be around. (Benji is an incredibly irritating person to work
Floyd | for, and will yell at us if he sees us slouching on the stool. He is a
Floyd | miserable person, in this regard. ... In all regards, really,
Floyd | but still.) Trott once hurled the stool at me, and the thing really
Floyd | smarted when I got hit by the sharp legs of the thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 27 / 85
Floyd | >Floyd | > X REGISTERFloyd |
Floyd | The cash register is beige and on the large side. They come in all
Floyd | shapes and sizes and I suppose I have seen a bunch at the Mall where I
Floyd | work that differ in structure and security features... Jesus, this is
Floyd | depressing. I'm a cash register expert at age 27. What have I been
Floyd | doing with my life?
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Regarding hints...
Floyd |
Floyd | It is not possible to get the game in an unwinnable state. General
Floyd | advice would be to role play Duffy and make those choices that he
Floyd | faces which he is seemingly incapable of making on his own, as well as
Floyd | talk at length to the other characters that you will encounter.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | For more specific help and hints with the game, try the Usenet
Floyd | newsgroup rec.games.int-fiction -- the users of this group
Floyd | are often able to help with quality hints and solid nudges.
Floyd | Additionally, you are invited to drop by the author's BBS at
Floyd | [LINK] where he will be able to
Floyd | answer any and all questions.
Floyd |
Floyd | [Press a key...]

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 27 / 89
Floyd | Returning to the story...Floyd |
Floyd | Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing EmporiumFloyd | The Emporium is rather smallish, as far as stores around here go,
Floyd | nestled into the far corners of the Mall, distant from practically
Floyd | every other decent or worthwhile store. Shelves of gaming books and
Floyd | modules are arranged everywhere, and promotional kiosks occupy the
Floyd | floorspace between the register and the far wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | The rest of the Mall is to the north.
Floyd | Trott and Gibs are here. Gibs has Gibs's lacrosse stick.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "x gibs"

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 27 / 90
Floyd | >Floyd | > X GIBSFloyd |
Floyd | Barnaby Gibbons is 5'11" tall and 175lbs, and right about my age. He
Floyd | has hazel eyes and brown hair. He's wearing a backwards baseball cap
Floyd | and a Rochester Knighthawks authentic lacrosse jersey. Barnaby makes
Floyd | his living as the host of a semi-popular sports radio show that is
Floyd | broadcast from two in the morning until six AM weekdays. I've known
Floyd | him for about a decade. He was my roommate for my three semesters at
Floyd | Syracuse University, and always keeps me rooted back in reality when
Floyd | I've been spending too much time with role-playing games. He also has
Floyd | the worst taste in music of anybody I know.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 27 / 93
Floyd | >Floyd | > X STICKFloyd |
Floyd | Gibs's stick is a Patterson brand Men's field lacrosse stick, designed
Floyd | for the Attack-Midfield position. It has a rawhide quick wall and
Floyd | bridge, woven with black leather, at one end (for catching and
Floyd | shooting balls) and a standard wood frame and handle at the other.
Floyd | Gibs has removed the plastic butt-end for his stick and filed it down,
Floyd | as he often thrusts it at his opponents during play in one of the
Floyd | nastier leagues he plays in.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 27 / 112
Floyd | >Floyd | > X CARDSFloyd |
Floyd | The cards are used in a game called 'Magic:The Gathering.' It's sort
Floyd | of like poker for nerds, except that the cards have special powers and
Floyd | so forth. I've never really gotten into it. Anyway, this is a small
Floyd | box containing wrapped packs of cards. There are about fifty or so in
Floyd | a box.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] NECROTIC DRIFT 1.03 by Robb Sherwin
Floyd | My dad came home late one night when I was nine and threw an old copy
Floyd | of the Monster Manual by Gary Gygax onto my bed. He woke me
Floyd | up, stressed and shaking at the humiliation his friends had put him
Floyd | through earlier that evening.
Floyd |
Floyd | He asked me if I wanted the book. I was still groggy, but I picked it
Floyd | up and thumbed through it. "We didn't play Monopoly tonight, Jarret,"
Floyd | he told me. "That's because not a one of them can beat me. Instead,
Floyd | they brought out this... thing. Some 'game of the imagination'." He
Floyd | practically spat that last word. "You can move all you like without
Floyd | throwing any dice, but to actually do anything, you need to throw a
Floyd | handful!!" I was both reading entries on the different monsters and
Floyd | paying half-attention to his rant. "Five minutes in, Benson tells me
Floyd | that I come across something called a gorgon. That got me stoned. Why
Floyd | would I play a game that depicted the recreational use of marijuana
Floyd | cigarettes? I got up and left."
Floyd |
Floyd | "They let you read this during play?" I asked him. He nodded. I turned
Floyd | to page 49. "I don't think they were supposed to. It says right here
Floyd | that the gorgon can turn you to stone. It doesn't
Floyd | get you stoned. And right here are all its weaknesses! How
Floyd | did you not see this? Are you stupid or something? Or what?"
Floyd |
Floyd | My father snatched back the Monster Manual. He didn't state
Floyd | that what he was going to do was going to hurt him more than it hurt
Floyd | me. (I think all he did say was that he should have left his 'patented
Floyd | Duffy blast' on my mother's face the night I was conceived, which
Floyd | didn't make a whole lot of sense to me then.) He instead just quietly
Floyd | gave me a spanking for back talk. But as that 112 page reference to a
Floyd | modern mythology of villainy struck my bony behind, it was as if he
Floyd | were bonding the pages and me for all time. Like directed osmosis
Floyd | through anger or something.
Floyd |
Floyd | (Okay, it actually wasn't like osmosis at all, but I've sacrificed
Floyd | knowledge in basic chemistry for additional levels in Modern
Floyd | Mythology, so please cut me some slack on the occasional analogy
Floyd | outside of my experience.)
Floyd |
Floyd | In the week that followed, my father tried to ban Dungeons & Dragons
Floyd | from the house as he had previously banned video games, cursing, Cajun
Floyd | food and music recorded after 1959. I stood up to him on D&D, though,
Floyd | and he caved for the only time in my childhood. Within a week I was
Floyd | running my own games for the kids in my tract. We were creating
Floyd | adventures together with Devils, Demons and Dragons and it was one of
Floyd | the best times of my life. My old man may have never been on the short
Floyd | list for an award from the PTA, but his maniac antics did a better job
Floyd | helping me understand just what I was interested in than the fathers
Floyd | of anyone else I grew up with. And heck, he did have my back that one
Floyd | time I met D&D creator Gary Gygax himself at DragonCon and started
Floyd | kicking him in his bag of magic beans (if you're digging my ditch
Floyd | here) in misplaced, latent vengeance due to how hard the board stock
Floyd | was for those manual covers.
Floyd |
Floyd | I don't think you've truly bonded with your father until you've spent
Floyd | 36 consecutive hours in a holding cell mocking and taunting an inmate
Floyd | set consisting of multiple thirty-somethings decked out in homemade
Floyd | hobbit, fairie and chocobo costumes, where the only thing the lot of
Floyd | them had in common, aside from a complete lack of human dignity, was
Floyd | relating how difficult it was to sleep late when the sump pump went
Floyd | off.

Zach says, "Hmm, that's a good question"

jenrexrode says, "cool, then I can catch up"

Zach says (to Floyd), "press space"

Floyd ] Academy Videos 0 / 0
Floyd | Necrotic DriftFloyd | Interactive Fiction
Floyd | Copyright (c) 2004. Written and programmed by Robb Sherwin
Floyd | Release 1.03 / Serial number 040623 / Hugo 3.1
Floyd |
Floyd | I'm here this evening at an Academy Videos store thirty-five minutes
Floyd | from my home with two of my roommates and my best friend. We have to
Floyd | come all the way down here to rent because of the late fees on my
Floyd | memberships at all the video places back in the Fort. I wish I had a
Floyd | good story for why that is the case, but I don't. I'm just poor and
Floyd | had the first Lord of the Rings movie overdue for more than
Floyd | two weeks at multiple video chains. I kept it around to mainly prove
Floyd | trivia. (It will probably end up costing me more to show my friends
Floyd | that the elf character Legolas was walking on, and not
Floyd | in the snow, than it did for director Peter Jackson to
Floyd | implement that effect on-screen.)
Floyd |
Floyd | Supposedly, Audrey is dropping by tonight to watch a movie, which is
Floyd | why I'm even here to begin with. In the five years we've been together
Floyd | we've dumped each other a total of nine times. She is currently ahead
Floyd | of me six to three. Her most shallow dumping was when she wanted to
Floyd | exclusively hang around a hardcore goth guy who had somehow managed to
Floyd | finance or lease his own cemetery plot. That guy was the black
Floyd | fingernail Alpha male until he missed his first payment. To be fair,
Floyd | mine was when she filled out Student Loan paperwork for me without my
Floyd | knowledge or consent and almost enrolled me into classes at the nearby
Floyd | University of Central Hill. She doesn't like the fact that I work at
Floyd | the Funtime Teen Mall for $5.51 an hour at age 27.
Floyd |
Floyd | I have to work later tonight, so I guess I'd better pick something and
Floyd | get out of here quickly.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Academy Videos 1 / 2
Floyd | >Floyd | > TAKE ACTION MOVIEFloyd |
Floyd | I grab a movie from the rack. And behold! It's The Lord of theFloyd | Rings. Why on earth the dip behind the counter would deign to
Floyd | keep it in this rack is beyond my comprehension. But it
Floyd | doesn't matter. I don't really possess the discipline to go get
Floyd | something else.
Floyd |
Floyd | Pang clears his throat and holds up a copy of Blade. "I have
Floyd | found the movie for us all tonight," he states, with an annoying
Floyd | authority. "It has electronica and vampires, as all classics should."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Blade?" screeches Criswell. He's another one of my
Floyd | roommates. "They merged techno music and goths for that one. No
Floyd | chance. No way. And if you pick out one that merges country music with
Floyd | the French art film or opera with a Pixar kiddie flick I will drop
Floyd | trou and take a crap on the TV while it's playing."
Floyd |
Floyd | Criswell's only half joking, as he's demonstrated his willingness to
Floyd | do that before. When his favorite CFL football team lost in the finals
Floyd | last year he was so pissed off at the TV for depicting it that he
Floyd | grabbed a chair from the kitchen, got up and plopped a steaming load
Floyd | on top of the set. Worse, it was two weeks before anyone cleaned it
Floyd | up. We had a veritable bumper crop of flies around the house that
Floyd | year.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says (to Floyd), "z"

Floyd ] Academy Videos 1 / 3
Floyd | >Floyd | > ZFloyd |
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | "OK, I'm set," says Criswell. "Truman Show. Jim Carrey is the
Floyd | funniest man alive. This'll be a gem. Hey, Duffy, you
Floyd | bringin' that chick you hang around with over tonight? Well, thank me
Floyd | later, man, 'cos she'll be all out of giggles by the time you pull off
Floyd | your pants. For once, anyway."
Floyd |
Floyd | Barnaby idly toys with a movie and then puts it back on the shelf.
Floyd | "There were some real hotties at that Bead Store, the other day," he
Floyd | says to me. "Cute, but not so cute that they would have nothing to do
Floyd | with you, I mean."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says (to Floyd), "z"

Floyd ] Academy Videos 1 / 4
Floyd | >Floyd | > ZFloyd |
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yo, fruit loops," says the clerk to the lot of us, "I'm shutting this
Floyd | store down to go get a full body massage from the Taiwanese Parlor
Floyd | down the street. Pronto. Get your movies and get out."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Full-body?" asks Barnaby. "That means they give you a hand job,
Floyd | right?" The clerk perks up and nods gleefully. "Hey, I've always
Floyd | wondered..." Barnaby decides exactly how he wants to phrase it. "Is it
Floyd | customary to let them know when you're about to come? Like, a warning?
Floyd | Or do you not have to do that because they are professionals?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Nobody says anything for a few moments. I shrug. "I guess it depends
Floyd | on whether you're a sprayer or a lumper," I say.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Academy Videos 1 / 6
Floyd | >Floyd | > ZFloyd |
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | A grime-encrusted area denizen slams his hand on the door and the
Floyd | clerk reluctantly lets him in. The thing shambles his way into the
Floyd | video store. He leaves muddy streaks upon the entrance door, drawing
Floyd | the further ire of the clerk.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey, what the hell is the matter with you, cracky?" I suppose that I
Floyd | disagree that the new denizen is a crackhead (he meanders more in his
Floyd | movement than he shakes, I mean). But I don't say anything. The clerk
Floyd | points a stern finger at him from across the counter. "Can't you read?
Floyd | We're closed! Get out of here!"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says (to Floyd), "take gun"

Floyd ] Academy Videos 7 / 7
Floyd | >Floyd | > TAKE GUNFloyd |
Floyd | I casually lift the gun from the counter without the clerk really
Floyd | noticing.
Floyd |
Floyd | The area denizen grabs at the clerk's neck! He gets two hands round
Floyd | the clerk's esophagus, and begins choking the life right out of him!
Floyd |
Floyd | The clerk gurgles in pain! I hear a guttural moaning sound coming from
Floyd | the attacker. The violence causes Pang and Criswell to hide in the
Floyd | back of the store.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey!" says Barnaby, "Knock it off! Let him go!"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Main Street 12 / 9
Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd | (opening the store door first)
Floyd | It's stuck!!
Floyd |
Floyd | The grimy denizen throttles the clerk!
Floyd |
Floyd | The clerk slumps to the floor, disappearing behind the register
Floyd | counter.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Shoot the goddamn thing, Duffy!" screams Barnaby. He kicks open the
Floyd | door to the outside and gets into a defensive posture.
Floyd | We run outside and slam the door shut. Pang gives it an angled kick,
Floyd | 'locking' it the best he can.
Floyd |
Floyd | Main StreetFloyd | The stench of New Haz suddenly hits us all like a cruel sucker-punch
Floyd | through the septum. Individually (but within moments, in concert) we
Floyd | all gasp for fresher air. We need to get in my car and get out of here
Floyd | quickly -- both before that thing finishes up in the store,
Floyd | and before the city's stink can settle in our clothes.
Floyd | My car is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Gibs, Pang, and Criswell are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | "What... what the hell was that?" asks Pang. I don't have a
Floyd | decent answer for him. I don't know, I don't have any idea.
Floyd |
Floyd | "There are sometimes bots," starts Barnaby, before shutting up. "Oh,
Floyd | Christ, let's just get the hell out of here before it comes looking
Floyd | for us!"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | >Floyd | > DRIVEFloyd |
Floyd | I double-check to make sure everyone's into the car.
Floyd |
Floyd | The guy from inside starts banging and clawing at the passenger side
Floyd | of my car.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Drive, dammit, drive!" screeches Criswell from the backseat.
Floyd | "Get us outta here!"
Floyd |
Floyd | I put the car in reverse and prepare to get the hell out of town. The
Floyd | guy staggers over and gets right in my path.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hit 'em, Duffy!" Criswell's going crazy back there. "Run him over!"
Floyd |
Floyd | I put the car in first and stomp the accelerator more out of panic
Floyd | than anything else. The guy doesn't move, flinch, anything. I ram him
Floyd | and he smacks right into the windshield, chipping it with his elbow.
Floyd | He tumbles about and we hear him on the roof for a moment before
Floyd | seeing his face appear on the back window, shocking the hell out of
Floyd | Pang and Criswell. I downshift from third gear back into second for a
Floyd | moment which causes my car to red line and enough of a jolt for him to
Floyd | fall off completely. I see him, through the rear-view mirror, take a
Floyd | vicious fall onto the road, bouncing against it at painful angles like
Floyd | a discarded rag doll.
Floyd |
Floyd | Nobody says anything for a second, until Criswell pops opens his
Floyd | mouth. "That... man, that was awesome!!"
Floyd |
Floyd | "You don't think I killed that guy, do you? Do you think he's OK?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "It was probably a bot," says Gibs. "Look, he was trying to attack us,
Floyd | anyway."
Floyd |
Floyd | "That's true," says Pang. "Both items are totally true."
Floyd |
Floyd | I get us on the Interstate and head north, back towards home. I chuck
Floyd | the gun out the window on the way back. Nobody says anything else
Floyd | until I drop Gibs off and get the rest of us back to the house...

Zach says (to Floyd), "press space"

Floyd |

Zach says (to Floyd), "z"

Floyd ] Chapter Two
Floyd | I've only been on, really, truly on... once in my life.
Floyd |
Floyd | It was about five years ago. The first week of March. The Wizards of
Floyd | the Coast (the company that publishes all the D&D books these days)
Floyd | were sponsoring a huge, two-day tournament in the Fort. I signed up
Floyd | for it with Barnaby, who used to be more into this kind of thing back
Floyd | then, and we started gaming it on a Saturday morning.
Floyd |
Floyd | It wasn't a 'competitive' tournament, per se, especially since around
Floyd | that time the two local gangs of Korean role players had pretty much
Floyd | wiped each other out when an on-line housing refresh dispute went from
Floyd | the virtual world of the internet to the physical one of reality,
Floyd | resulting in thirteen dead and seven wounded. That would have normally
Floyd | taken the edge off for the rest of us for the whole of the weekend,
Floyd | but we soon found out that WotC were putting up an eight-thousand
Floyd | dollar first prize for the weekend's 'Most Outstanding Roleplayer.'
Floyd | When I found that out, something clicked inside me, and I drew from a
Floyd | strength of personality I didn't know I had.
Floyd |
Floyd | All day the dice were with me. Just about every time I threw a
Floyd | twenty-sided die I got an incredibly favorable result. I started
Floyd | getting a bit more bold and soon found that the other kids at my table
Floyd | started following me. Looking to me for direction, for
Floyd | decisions, for witticisms. I became bolder and overly gregarious. I
Floyd | hardly needed any of the booty the game's Dungeon Master was giving us
Floyd | in-game, and won over the entire table through generosity. I was
Floyd | confident and having fun being me for the first time ever.
Floyd |
Floyd | My luck stayed with me when I went to different tables and played with
Floyd | different people. When the tournament finished the next day, I was
Floyd | awarded the top prize and a check for $8,000. I accepted it graciously
Floyd | and thanked everyone I played with for giving me the chance to shine.
Floyd | As Barnaby and I were rounding up our backpacks and bags of dice, I
Floyd | Xeroxed a copy of my character sheet, signed my name and phone number
Floyd | to it, and gave it to the cutest girl who seemed single during the
Floyd | event, someone I had played with on the first day.
Floyd |
Floyd | When I got home, I spent the entire check on a car and a new wardrobe.
Floyd | I had nothing left of it by Tuesday.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey didn't call the number on the sheet, maybe because it was a
Floyd | pompous act of nigh-Olympic level. But when she dropped by the Mall
Floyd | later that week I asked her out on a date. She said yes and has been
Floyd | in various states of flabbergastation with me over the years that have
Floyd | followed.
Floyd |
Floyd | I got my car, clothes and relationship within a lucky streak that
Floyd | lasted 48 hours five years ago. And I've been living off that success
Floyd | ever since. I'd confess that in my darker moments, when I am at my
Floyd | most honest, it rather spooks me to know that I have essentially been
Floyd | stagnant ever since.

Zach says (to Floyd), "z"

Floyd ] Living Room 17 / 12
Floyd | stagnant ever since.
Floyd | Living RoomFloyd | I live in a four-bedroom rented house in a college town we all call
Floyd | 'The Fort.' The exterior to this place was kind of beat up when we
Floyd | decided to rent here, and through the last three years we've worked
Floyd | our hardest to make the interior nicely match.
Floyd | Sitting corpulently in the blue couch is Pang.
Floyd | On the tattered couch are the green blanket and the pillow. Sitting
Floyd | on the entertainment center are the television and the DVD player.
Floyd | Sitting on the table are Vecna's hand, the Dreamcast, the bottle of
Floyd | wine, a cup, the Blade DVD, the The Truman Show DVD, and the Lord of
Floyd | the Rings DVD.
Floyd |
Floyd | The other three guys who live here include Pang and Criswell and
Floyd | another guy named Leary who isn't around much. (But then, he's an
Floyd | engineer and the only guy with his life remotely in order.) Criswell
Floyd | found most of our crummy furniture when he went Dumpster Diving a
Floyd | while back, and we place blankets over the rotting parts like they
Floyd | were giant cloth band-aids to hide their pronounced ghetto factor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Living Room 17 / 15
Floyd | >Floyd | > OPEN DOORFloyd |
Floyd | I let Audrey inside, and give her a kiss on the cheek.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hello, Jarret..." she looks over and sees Pang on the couch. Distaste
Floyd | can't help but crawl across her face. "So... what have we got planned
Floyd | for tonight?"
Floyd |
Floyd | I see Audrey for the first time. I probably should have gotten the
Floyd | door for her.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Thanks for getting the door, jerk," she says. Ouch. This isn't good,
Floyd | I've managed to come off as irritating before she'd even entered the
Floyd | house. I usually have ten minutes of grace period.
Floyd |
Floyd | "I was in the bathroom, brushing my hair so it would look nice and
Floyd | stylish for you," I say with a shrug.
Floyd |
Floyd | "It's a brush. Not a magic wand. You know... I've never met a man who
Floyd | was so obsessed with his hair. But anyway. What are we doing tonight?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Living Room 17 / 16
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Movie night?" asks Audrey. "You want to sit around the house and
Floyd | watch a movie? Come on. Really?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Pang pops up with his opinion. "Well, I want to."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Nobody's asking you," says Audrey. Then it hits her that Pang is
Floyd | probably going to sit around for the showing. "Your little friend
Floyd | isn't around is he, Pang?" She means Criswell.
Floyd |
Floyd | "He will be in a minute. The pipes froze and burst next door and
Floyd | flooded the kitchen. He's been keeping beer there."
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey doesn't roll her eyes or anything, but it's obvious to me that
Floyd | she envisioned something else when I asked her over. I'd love to go
Floyd | out somewhere, but I barely have enough gas to get me to work and back
Floyd | and I don't get paid until Wednesday. In a storybook world or in some
Floyd | kind of made-up dream relationship I'd just come correct and
Floyd | let her know how broke I was. We could then just play in the snow,
Floyd | frolic for a couple hours and eat pieces of our gingerbread house for
Floyd | dinner. In the world I reside in, though, in the reality I've made for
Floyd | myself that's not an option I have available.
Floyd |
Floyd | Pang puts the copy of Blade into the DVD player.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to audrey"

Floyd ] Living Room 17 / 17
Floyd | >Floyd | > TALK TO AUDREYFloyd |
Floyd | I can't think of anything to say right now.
Floyd |
Floyd | "What.. aw, hell, what the hell is this, Pang?" asks Criswell, as he
Floyd | enters. "Oh, hey, by the way, I don't think we're gonna be able to
Floyd | keep beers at the neighbor's house any longer. Someone has begun the
Floyd | moving-in process. Wait, did you end up getting this fucking
Floyd | Blade thing? Oh, Kee-rist!"
Floyd |
Floyd | I don't understand why Criswell is so against this movie. I guess I
Floyd | could ask him, or something, if I really cared. Only I don't. I just
Floyd | want him gone.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Just watch the movie," says Pang.
Floyd |
Floyd | "No!" exclaims Criswell. "I'm gonna make The Call!"
Floyd |
Floyd | "You're not going to have a quorum," says Pang.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Living Room 17 / 18
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 2Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Not especially," she says. "I think I saw it when it first came out."
Floyd |
Floyd | "What? Are you kidding me?" I think about the math for a second. "By
Floyd | my calculations, you were eight when it came out. You mean to tell me
Floyd | that the Neuromancer didn't like you dating me at first because at
Floyd | three years your elder, I was a bad example, but he was OK with you
Floyd | watching a movie where Snipes hacks apart vampires for 90 minutes?" I
Floyd | call her father 'The Neuromancer' because his first name is Henry, and
Floyd | the main character of the novel _Neuromancer_ is named Henry Case.
Floyd | I've been lucky in not saying it when he's been around so far.
Floyd |
Floyd | "I was very mature for my age," she replies. "I think we'd have been a
Floyd | perfect match, intellectually, if you met me when I was eight and you
Floyd | were twenty-seven.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey, what about if you met me?" says Criswell.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Two," Audrey and I say at the same time.
Floyd |
Floyd | Leary walks down the stairs. He gives everyone a 'hey' and waves to
Floyd | Audrey.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yo, Leary, what's your take on Blade?" asks Criswell.
Floyd |
Floyd | Pang's not thrilled about opinions being offered up on his choice
Floyd | before the opening credits are even finished.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Ehh," says Leary as he picks up the phone to make a call. "Not my
Floyd | thing. Nothing personal, Panger."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Damn fuckin' straight!" says Criswell. "I'm makin' the call! The Call
Floyd | for Ejection! Duffy? What're you saying?"
Floyd |
Floyd | I don't know how to go with this one. On one hand, it could mean that
Floyd | my movie will get played and these two morons will leave out of
Floyd | boredom. On the other hand -- just how freaking immature am I going to
Floyd | come across?
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says (to Floyd), "talk to audrey"

Floyd ] Living Room 17 / 19
Floyd | >Floyd | > TALK TO AUDREYFloyd |
Floyd | I can't think of anything to say right now.
Floyd |
Floyd | "The thumb points down, bitchkin!" says Criswell to Pang. It was
Floyd | inevitable that he was going to pull the movie no matter what popular
Floyd | choice happened to be. Criswell hops over to the DVD player and ejects
Floyd | the disc. He places The Truman Show in. "We're now starin'
Floyd | down the barrel of a whole lotta giggles," he says to Audrey.
Floyd |
Floyd | I keep one eye trained underneath the sofa in case Audrey's rolling
Floyd | eyes pop out of her head.
Floyd |
Floyd | "What are you talking about?" she says. Audrey has never, ever liked
Floyd | Criswell. "This is a drama, not a ninety minute episode of 'White Guys
Floyd | Gone Jostling.'" Criswell's head strains to the side as he
Floyd | simultaneously doesn't believe her and doesn't comprehend her.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey continues. "You know what drama is, right? It's the name given
Floyd | to a movie that adults tend to enjoy, as well as being the
Floyd | standard root cause of every Linkin Park song."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yeah, whatever." Criswell shrugs. "I bet you Truman here is making
Floyd | like he's talking out of his ass before the opening credits are
Floyd | finished."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Living Room 17 / 20
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Pretty well, actually." Audrey is in the last year of Medical School.
Floyd | It's taken her forever to finish up, but I guess that's normal for
Floyd | would-be doctors. "They are having a dress-up party in my department
Floyd | for Martin Luther King day in a couple weeks, you know. You should
Floyd | come."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Who do you have to dress up as?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Someone who did something positive for civil rights."
Floyd |
Floyd | "So you could dress up as someone who freed the slaves, then, right?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Sure. You'd look cute, I think, if you had that Abraham Lincoln-style
Floyd | beard for a few days."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Ah! Ah-ha. Yes." I don't bother to tell her that I was thinking more
Floyd | along the lines of Cameron Maj?re than Lincoln, which is probably for
Floyd | the best.
Floyd |
Floyd | Five minutes elapse. The only possession Criswell has left is the
Floyd | dumbfounded look upon his face.
Floyd |
Floyd | Minute seven comes and Pang can't help himself any longer.
Floyd |
Floyd | "You stupid, simple... child," he says, quietly. "Next week
Floyd | go get Good Will Hunting -- Robin Williams is hilarious in
Floyd | it." Pang points his thumb down.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Living Room 17 / 21
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | She doesn't say anything. She just nods, looking straight ahead. I
Floyd | can't really blame her... these two idiots are really getting in my
Floyd | way tonight, and ruining everything.
Floyd |
Floyd | Leary turns around from his phone call and squints a bit at the TV. He
Floyd | chuckles, points his own thumb down for a second and then turns back
Floyd | away from the living room. Pang wiggles the Vecna's Hand toy around
Floyd | with its thumb pointing down in order to taunt Criswell just a bit
Floyd | more.
Floyd |
Floyd | Pang gets up to change the movie.
Floyd |
Floyd | He places in Lord of the Rings, apparently without really
Floyd | recognizing what it is. The intro starts. Audrey lets out a sigh. I
Floyd | have no idea if I'm correctly interpreting it, but I'm guessing that
Floyd | she's resigned herself to at least watching the movie on the TV
Floyd | screen.
Floyd |
Floyd | "What the shit is this?" asks Criswell. "More fuckin' ghouls and orcs
Floyd | and shit?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Bedroom 17 / 24
Floyd | >Floyd | > ENTER BEDROOMFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | BedroomFloyd | My bedroom's the smallest one in the house. (I got here last so I got
Floyd | the skankiest room.) There's not a whole lot going on in here, just
Floyd | some shelves with all my crap on it and a bed. It smells a bit less
Floyd | like cigarettes than it used to since I have gone a week and a half
Floyd | since my last one.
Floyd |
Floyd | "What the hell was that?" asks Audrey. "When are you going to get
Floyd | it... this has got to stop."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Bedroom 17 / 25
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "It's got to stop, Jarret. You know that."
Floyd |
Floyd | Eight years ago I was a sophomore at Syracuse University. I had not
Floyd | only barely gotten in, but barely survived my first year. My grade
Floyd | point average was a 1.8. (Well, 1.78; I used to always round that up.)
Floyd | My father had two main tenets when it came to raising me: obedience
Floyd | and grades. The first half of my sophomore year I failed all my
Floyd | classes except for Organic Chemistry Lab and Mythologies II. (Chem Lab
Floyd | was because I was fucking the teaching assistant; bitch still only
Floyd | gave me a B-.) When my father got my semester's grades in the mail he,
Floyd | for the first time, didn't go berserk or explode in a wave of
Floyd | profanity. He simply shrugged and said 'it's got to stop.'
Floyd |
Floyd | It feels just the same as Audrey saying it now.
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "What? Come on, we were just goofing around in there."
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

Zach says (to Floyd), "1"

Floyd ] Bedroom 17 / 26
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Well it's not funny!" she says. "And I can't think of any substance I
Floyd | could take that would make those idiots 'funny.' I could give you the
Floyd | formula and arrangement of at least a hundred molecules off the top of
Floyd | my head, and not a single one can be ingested in sufficient quantities
Floyd | that would make what went on in there 'funny' without killing me
Floyd | first."
Floyd |
Floyd | The thing about dating smart girls, I should tell you, is that you
Floyd | don't feel half as bad when they attempt to humiliate you. Audrey and
Floyd | I also give each other plenty of time to finish our sentences, which I
Floyd | think is something that we both require more than oxygen, fresh water,
Floyd | and C6 H... er, 12, and O... well, glucose, anyway.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Spending time is normally fun with you, Jarret. Doing date-type
Floyd | things. Even studying when you were still going to uni. But this
Floyd | middle-age sitting-around watching-DVDs thing... I'm just not ready
Floyd | for every day to be like this."
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "Hey, look, me either. OK? I'm not retiring on you."
Floyd | (2) "Look, we'll go skydiving or something, okay?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

Zach says (to Floyd), "1"

Floyd ] Bedroom 17 / 27
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Well, I appreciate the sentiment, Jarret, but it's been like this for
Floyd | a while now. I don't know if it's just the inevitable ennui you get
Floyd | when you reach your late twenties or what, but that kind of brings me
Floyd | to what I wanted to talk about when I came over tonight..."
Floyd |
Floyd | I realize now that we're probably only just getting started with what
Floyd | she wants to discuss. Geez. Well, I'll try to keep this quick.
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "Lay it on me, then. What's up?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

Floyd ] Bedroom 17 / 30
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "I understand," she says.
Floyd |
Floyd | Technically, I had a couple hours before I was due at work, but I
Floyd | might as well go in early and pick up some overtime.
Floyd | "We can talk about this after I get out of there, right?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Of course," she says. Again, in her terse form of communicating more
Floyd | without words than with.
Floyd |
Floyd | "I get out at eleven. Gibs might want me to do his radio show but I
Floyd | will blow it off if so. I'll give you a call when I get home, okay?"
Floyd |
Floyd | She nods, gives me a hug and leaves my room.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says (to Floyd), "out"

Floyd ] Living Room 17 / 31
Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Living RoomFloyd | This room is centered around the television, a 32" Sony that Leary
Floyd | brought when he moved in. The set sits on a wooden entertainment
Floyd | center, with 'satellite' speakers all around the room. The tattered
Floyd | white couch is perpendicular to the set, and the blue one (where Pang
Floyd | normally situates himself) is eight or nine feet directly across from
Floyd | it.
Floyd | On the tattered couch are the green blanket and the pillow. Sitting
Floyd | on the entertainment center are the television and the DVD player.
Floyd | Inside the DVD player is the Lord of the Rings DVD. Sitting on the
Floyd | table are Vecna's hand, the Dreamcast, the bottle of wine, a cup, the
Floyd | Blade DVD, and the The Truman Show DVD.
Floyd | Criswell, Pang, and Audrey are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Oh, Jesus Christ!" exclaims Audrey. "What the hell are you two chimps
Floyd | doing? Goddess, I don't need this shit. Goodbye!"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says (to Floyd), "out"

Zach says (to Floyd), "out"

Floyd ] Living Room 17 / 32
Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd | (opening the porch door first)
Floyd | Opened.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey strides out the open door. I shake my head at my horrible home
Floyd | life and leave for work...
Floyd ] Chapter Three
Floyd | I'm still rather pissed off when I pull up into the Mall parking lot
Floyd | and showroom park my car. What kind of game is Audrey playing here?
Floyd | Surely she's bluffing. We've gone to Defcon 2 or maybe 3 before, but
Floyd | we were always able to talk one another down before the bombshells
Floyd | were dropped.
Floyd |
Floyd | I didn't want to have to go into work tonight worrying about this kind
Floyd | of crap. My job becomes a lot easier when I'm able to turn off the
Floyd | parts of my mind that don't deal with twenty-sided dice, Player's
Floyd | Handbooks and noticing customer body odor. The greatest curse you can
Floyd | inflict upon someone who works at the Mall is getting them to fret.
Floyd |
Floyd | (And the greatest curse you can inflict upon yourself while at the
Floyd | Mall is to attempt to stop smoking. I seriously picked a bad week for
Floyd | it.)
Floyd |
Floyd | I walk down to the east end of the Mall, avoid the guy taking surveys,
Floyd | and enter my store.

DavidW says (to Floyd), "SAVE"

DavidW says (to Floyd), "cf1"

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 17 / 33
Floyd |
Floyd | Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing EmporiumFloyd | Trott had been working the evening shift; I greet him and take my
Floyd | usual place behind the counter. There's really no reason for two of us
Floyd | to close the store, except that Benji (the owner) is still a little
Floyd | freaked after someone tried to blow up his arcade next door a couple
Floyd | of weeks ago. It's unlikely that we'll have any customers, though, so
Floyd | Trott and I should be able to logout the register and drop the gate
Floyd | quickly when the time comes.
Floyd | The counter contains the Magic: The Gathering cards.
Floyd | The counter has a postcard on it.
Floyd | Trott is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 17 / 33
Floyd | >Floyd | > CF1Floyd |
Floyd | [ The word "cf1" is not recognized by the game. ]Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 17 / 36
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Mingya, gimme a break, Duffy," says Barnaby. "I outgrew all this
Floyd | stuff years ago. If I'm going to be weirdly obsessive about something,
Floyd | it'll be football roto stats, not the loyalty tables of half-orc
Floyd | henchmen."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Fair enough," I say with a shrug. Why get into it with him? "What's
Floyd | up, anyway?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "I need you to come on the air tonight. After you get done here and
Floyd | everything. Both of my interviews fell through so I need to make this
Floyd | an all-comedy night."
Floyd |
Floyd | I've gone by the studio with Barnaby a couple times before. Though
Floyd | previously I've known in advance and could brush up on the various
Floyd | crimes committed by NFL players.
Floyd |
Floyd | "I dunno, Gibs... I haven't been paying much attention as of late, I
Floyd | don't even know who's going to be in the Super Bowl."
Floyd |
Floyd | "You'll do fine!" he says. "Tavarian Pittman was identified as a
Floyd | participant in a snuff film earlier today! All we're going to do is
Floyd | make jokes about it for three hours. Can you do a Nicholas Cage
Floyd | impression? Additionally, we'll also discuss the worst sports cities
Floyd | of all-time."
Floyd |
Floyd | Barnaby nods over to Trott. "What's going on, man?" he asks.
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "What do you have down as the worst sports city, all-time, so
Floyd | far?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 17 / 40
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 2Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Private would be fantastic," says says, quickly. She takes my hand
Floyd | and walks me to the back of the store. We're not really out of the
Floyd | range of Barnaby and Trott, but it's unlikely that they are going to
Floyd | eavesdrop.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey, look," I start, "About before -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "Oh, no," she says, "This isn't about that. We can get some coffee
Floyd | when you get out of work and talk about that. No, Sydney and Casey
Floyd | wanted me to ask you a favor. They are having difficulties getting
Floyd | their register to interface with the mainframe tonight. Something is
Floyd | broken with their PC. They thought maybe you could look at it for
Floyd | them."
Floyd |
Floyd | I am crazy about this girl, and I guess I will always be and
Floyd | everything, but her coming over here to get me to do work for her
Floyd | friend's store is kind of cold. "Isn't Mall Security supposed to
Floyd | handle that?" It's not really that I don't want to help, I tell
Floyd | myself, as much as that I'll look like a jerk in front of a small
Floyd | gaggle of girls if I can't fix it. (But then I tell myself that I'm 28
Floyd | and still afraid to fail a bit in front of some chicks. Ouch.)
Floyd |
Floyd | "They only have one guy working now, what with Christmas Rush being
Floyd | over and everything. And that guy is infatuated with a girl over at
Floyd | the lingerie store."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Which one? I know one or two girls that work there."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Not one that works there. He's obsessed with with one of the giant
Floyd | push-up bra posters in the window."
Floyd |
Floyd | I consider this for a moment. "Well... fair enough, I guess. Her
Floyd | breasts on one of those giant posters would be six times larger than
Floyd | his head. Or even eight times if it's a good push-up."
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "Yes, look, I'll help you. Them. Whoever."
Floyd | (2) "Look, I'll try to make it over eventually. OK?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

DavidW asks, "1?"

Zach says (to Floyd), "1"

Floyd ] Benji's Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium 17 / 41
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Fan-tastic," she says, with more than a hint of
Floyd | exasperation. "Let's go." I wave to Trott in order to inquire if it's
Floyd | OK if I leave the store. He gives me a nod. We run this store through
Floyd | a regime of efficient hand-signals and basic telepathy. Gibs perks up
Floyd | at all of this.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey, I'm coming along," he says.
Floyd |
Floyd | "No, you're not," replies Audrey.
Floyd |
Floyd | "You're out of your mind if you think I'm missing a chance to hang out
Floyd | with the girls at the Bead Store, Yoko," says Gibs.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey turns to make what I predict to be a sharp comment, but I try
Floyd | to defuse the situation first. "Audrey isn't anybody's Yoko fucking
Floyd | Ono, Gibs. That doesn't even make any sense, since she's not bringing
Floyd | me down, making me dress poorly, stopping me from shaving and bathing,
Floyd | or getting me shot in New York City. She's not the Yoko to my Lennon,
Floyd | not the Delilah to my Samson. No, what she is, is -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "I'm going to prepare some vomit bags in case you say she's the
Floyd | Laurana to your Tanis," says Trott from behind the counter. He's
Floyd | referring to the male and female lead of the DragonlanceFloyd | novels.
Floyd |
Floyd | Nobody says anything for a few seconds. "Let's just go," I say. "The
Floyd | three of us."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "I've never read any Dragonlance, but boy, that sounded way nerdy."

Zach says, "I have, and it was"

smartgenes says, "i get the reference, but it doesn't seem like much of a homage"

Zach says, "Robb's metaphors are on a whole other plane of existence"

DavidW says, "Considering we couldn't open our own register, I'm dubious what we'll do with another."

Floyd ] Eastern End of the Mall 17 / 43
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Eastern End of the MallFloyd | This is as far east as the Mall goes. The Mall technically dips a bit
Floyd | as one goes west, as it was originally built on a landfill (and it's
Floyd | already started to sink some). There's a three-sided advertising kiosk
Floyd | in the middle of the corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | To the west is the Bead Store, Sporting Goods Outlet and Arcade.
Floyd |
Floyd | My store, the Gaming Emporium is south.
Floyd |
Floyd | Gibs and Audrey follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "I'm expecting a bead bomb, personally."

inky says, "hmm"

smartgenes says, "i wonder if it understands SNUGGLE"

Zach says (to Floyd), "x kiosk"

Floyd ] Eastern End of the Mall 17 / 44
Floyd | >Floyd | > X KIOSKFloyd |
Floyd | The informational kiosk shows all the locations of all the businesses
Floyd | on this level of the Mall.
Floyd |
Floyd | The lights come back on, albeit it slightly dimmer than before.
Floyd |
Floyd | Eastern End of the MallFloyd | This is far east as the Mall goes. The Mall technically dips a bit as
Floyd | one goes west, as it was originally constructed upon a landfill.
Floyd | There's a three-sided advertising kiosk in the middle of the corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | To the west is the Beads Store, Sporting Good Outlet and the (closed)
Floyd | Arcade.
Floyd |
Floyd | My store, the Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium, is to the south.
Floyd | Gibs and Audrey are here. Gibs has Gibs's lacrosse stick.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 17 / 46
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side of the MallFloyd | I'm at the eastern side of the Mall. To the north is Choad's Sporting
Floyd | Goods (the gate has been lowered and the screen up). The arcade is to
Floyd | the south, but that has been closed and inaccessible for a while now.
Floyd | My store is a bit to the east, and the Bead Store a bit to the west.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a table here, a couple feet west of the edge of the Sporting
Floyd | Goods store.
Floyd |
Floyd | In the corner of the front of the Arcade is an X-box game unit.
Floyd |
Floyd | Gibs and Audrey follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says (to Floyd), "x table"

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 17 / 47
Floyd | >Floyd | > X TABLEFloyd |
Floyd | Some of the stores have tables on the outside, in an attempt to entice
Floyd | customers to come inside. This table is one of them, for Choad's
Floyd | Sporting Goods Store. Usually only extremely cheap items are set on
Floyd | them, so as to minimize shortages and loss.
Floyd | Sitting on the counter are some socks.
Floyd |
Floyd | Sitting on the counter are some socks.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 17 / 49
Floyd | >Floyd | > WEAR SOCKSFloyd |
Floyd | I already have a decent pair of socks, so I place them over my hands
Floyd | and use them as mittens. The Mall is freezing, anyway.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says, "ok, i was just checking i had the right reference"

inky says (to Floyd), "in"

Floyd | >Floyd | > INFloyd |
Floyd | I can't go that way. I can go west to the beginning of the east wing
Floyd | or east to the eastern end of the mall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 17 / 51
Floyd | >Floyd | > X BOXFloyd |
Floyd | It's a very old video game unit. I believe it first hit the market in
Floyd | 2001 or 2002. It's also incredibly fricken huge. Looks like over a
Floyd | cubic meter of gaming anger to me. Physically, the box depicts all the
Floyd | games you can play on the thing in a green and black color scheme.
Floyd |
Floyd | Benji (the same guy who is my boss as well) keeps them outside the
Floyd | Arcade in some attempt to entice customers sick of the arcade
Floyd | experience into buying a larger-ticket item. Either that, or they are
Floyd | placed outside the arcade to balance the weight of the dozen, ancient,
Floyd | hulking arcade games inside it. Either / or.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "geez, we're klepto today."

smartgenes asks, "how does a small xbox balance weight of arcade machines?"

smartgenes says, "hmm i much prefer the game at points like this, without the banter"

Zach says (to Floyd), "s"

Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd | I can't go that way. I can go west to the beginning of the east wing
Floyd | or east to the eastern end of the mall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] East Side Corridor 17 / 53
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd | "Well, we're here," says Audrey, indicating that the Bead Store is to
Floyd | the south.
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side CorridorFloyd | There's only one more stretch of corridor on this level before one
Floyd | gets to the elevator, which leads down to the ground floor. To the
Floyd | south of this area is the Bead Store, exits otherwise lead west and
Floyd | east.
Floyd |
Floyd | Gibs and Audrey follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says (to Floyd), "s"

Floyd ] Bead Store 17 / 54
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Bead StoreFloyd | I part aside a dense curtain of strung-together beads and enter the
Floyd | store. The Bead Store has always had a unique odor among the shops on
Floyd | this block of the Mall -- it smells strongly of incense and old
Floyd | marijuana. The owner of this place has a sweetheart deal on the rent
Floyd | along with clearance from the Fire Marshall that allows her to burn
Floyd | all manner of scent sticks popular with Wiccans and hippies.
Floyd |
Floyd | There are shelves on all sides of the store, but none in the middle of
Floyd | the store due to the drawn pentagram.
Floyd |
Floyd | On the far side of the store is the register counter, and next to
Floyd | that, the broken PC that Audrey wanted me to take a look at.
Floyd | Alongside the shelves is a tall crystal ball holder.
Floyd | Sydney and Casey are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Gibs and Audrey follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "x sydney"

Floyd ] Bead Store 17 / 55
Floyd | >Floyd | > X SYDNEYFloyd |
Floyd | Sydney is a very feisty and sarcastic blonde, and close friend of
Floyd | Audrey's.
Floyd |
Floyd | Casey and Sydney hold each other's hands along the edge of the
Floyd | pentagram. I give Gibs a nudge and a thumbs-up sign.
Floyd |
Floyd | "So, Barnaby," says Casey, "Would you like to help us in our little
Floyd | seance?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey gives Casey a dirty look.
Floyd |
Floyd | "What?" murmurs Casey to Audrey, "You're the one who told me I was
Floyd | gonna get a boyfriend at the mall."
Floyd |
Floyd | "I'd be delighted to help out," says Barnaby. "I've never done this
Floyd | before, so just let me know what to do and where to go. Did I mention
Floyd | that I am famous? I'm famous."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "oh, good, the pentagram is already drawn."

inky says (to Floyd), "x casey"

Floyd ] Bead Store 17 / 56
Floyd | >Floyd | > X CASEYFloyd |
Floyd | She has brown eyes and jet-black, though obviously dyed, hair. She is
Floyd | wearing a textbook goth outfit, complete with the black fingernails,
Floyd | eyeliner and steel-toed boots. She looks dark, mysterious, dangerous
Floyd | and completely off her rocker.
Floyd |
Floyd | The blonde (Sydney) gets Audrey, Gibs and Casey situated just how she
Floyd | wants them. "I memorized the passage we need to incant," she says to
Floyd | them. "You, the new guy, just don't speak out of turn. There are four
Floyd | names you need to remember. They are Nysrogh, Verin, Valafar and
Floyd | Cyramoir. We say them in an order based on just who we are trying to
Floyd | raise. Can you remember those names?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "He's a sports geek," says Audrey, "He can remember the average number
Floyd | of cup adjustments a player for the Nukes makes in a game -- He can
Floyd | remember this."
Floyd |
Floyd | "I'll be fine," beams Gibs.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Bead Store 29 / 60
Floyd | >Floyd | > FIX CABLEFloyd |
Floyd | I take a look at the back of the computer. The serial cable has been
Floyd | shoved into the back panel of the case. I'm not a hardware guru, but I
Floyd | can count pins and figure out where most stuff goes. I look over to
Floyd | the girls to tell them what the problem is, but they are holding one
Floyd | another's hands trying to engage in some pseudo-religious summoning
Floyd | ceremony. I fail at stifling an eye roll and give the serial cord a
Floyd | gentle tug. Nothing happens, as it's quite stuck. I pull a little
Floyd | harder, but still nothing. I decide to get a bunch of slack on the
Floyd | cord and give it a forceful yank --
Floyd |
Floyd | The serial cord rips free from the back of the computer! I see,
Floyd | briefly, that it was attached to some sort of small plug-in card that
Floyd | was squirreled away inside the box.
Floyd |
Floyd | The force of pulling on the cord launches the card behind me. It falls
Floyd | into the pentagram that the girls and Gibs are around.
Floyd |
Floyd | The girls and Gibs continue the summoning ritual...
Floyd |
Floyd | "Verin, love, do not forget us this dark eve, we miss you so..."
Floyd | chants Sydney, slowly.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a sudden and quick flash of fire and light a second after the
Floyd | cable lands on the floor!
Floyd |
Floyd | A deafening boom accompanies it -- the five of us fall right to the
Floyd | floor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "And we won't be able to offer the 2-for-1 special on sulphide beads."

inky says, "oopsies"

Zach says (to Floyd), "l"

Floyd ] Bead Store 29 / 61
Floyd | >Floyd | > LFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Bead Store, on the floorFloyd | The Bead Store smells strongly of incense and stale joints, and it
Floyd | almost overpowers every other sense. There are shelves on all sides of
Floyd | the store, but none in the middle of the store due to the drawn
Floyd | pentagram.
Floyd |
Floyd | On the far side of the store is the register counter, and next to
Floyd | that, the broken PC that Audrey wanted me to take a look at.
Floyd | Alongside the shelves is a tall crystal ball holder.
Floyd | Sydney, Casey, Gibs, and Audrey are here. Gibs has Gibs's lacrosse
Floyd | stick.
Floyd |
Floyd | Gibs stirs for a bit, and gives everyone in the room a look of
Floyd | disgusted confusion. He leaves a rather pregnant pause. He finally
Floyd | gives his own comment on the explosion: "What... the fuck...
Floyd | was that?
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey slowly picks herself up off the ground. I crawl over towards
Floyd | her. "Did you..." she starts. She sees the cable in the middle of the
Floyd | floor.
Floyd |
Floyd | "That was incredible!" says Casey, as she gets up and dizzily staggers
Floyd | around. "We have to do that again!"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "get holder"

Floyd ] Bead Store 29 / 62
Floyd | >Floyd | > GET HOLDERFloyd |
Floyd | I'm carrying too much to take that.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey, Gibs, and Casey are all up after the knockdown. Sydney is
Floyd | still down and out, though.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Syd?" asks Audrey. "You okay? Syd?" Audrey picks up the serial cable
Floyd | from the floor. "Oh, no..." she stumbles back as if something cut her
Floyd | legs out from underneath her. She knocks her head up against the
Floyd | counter and slumps to the ground without displaying a bit of evidence
Floyd | that she felt any pain. She stares ahead, so vacant...
Floyd |
Floyd | She snaps out of it. She looks up to me. "Jarret... " She swallows --
Floyd | hard. "I think we summoned something. I think we summoned a
Floyd | ghost."
Floyd |
Floyd | If anyone else had said it at any other time I would have began a
Floyd | sarcastic riff. But she's not kidding around. "Are you okay? Did you
Floyd | hurt your head at all -- " She shakes her head in the negative. "Look,
Floyd | I'll check on Sydney, OK? Just relax, just stay still for a second..."
Floyd | Sydney is the only one still unconscious.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW asks, "perhaps stand up?"

jenrexrode says, "yay, caught up"

Zach says (to Floyd), "wake sydney"

Floyd ] Bead Store 29 / 63
Floyd | >Floyd | > WAKE SYDNEYFloyd |
Floyd | I get up off the floor and go over towards Sydney in an attempt to
Floyd | wake her up. I place my hand on her shoulder... and suddenly her eyes
Floyd | snap open. She recognizes me quickly and gives me a look which
Floyd | communicates that she could have me at any time she wished in
Floyd | a split-second.
Floyd |
Floyd | Her eyes begin to swirl. She begins to turn transparent, she starts to
Floyd | float... she rises off the ground, breaking the look of pure sex and
Floyd | hypnotism that she shared with me, and looking over the others.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Always the inadvertent knight in shining armor, no, Jarret?" she
Floyd | whispers. It's still Sydney's voice, but softer, much more melodic.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Syd?" asks Audrey. "Are you --"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Oh, I feel wonderful," she says, answering the question
Floyd | before Audrey can finish it. "It has been so long since I have walked
Floyd | among you all... Too long. I have forgotten how good it feels to take
Floyd | a breath of air rather than soot..."
Floyd |
Floyd | She crosses her legs and raises herself a bit higher. She begins to
Floyd | slightly glow.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW asks, "perhaps drop the xbox; why'd you guys take it?"

smartgenes asks, "because it was there?"

DavidW says, "talk to syd"

smartgenes says, "i'm imagining a Dungeons and Dragon's wizard has taken over, for some reason"

smartgenes says, "that's Dragons, without the '"

smartgenes asks, "do we need the holder?"

DavidW says, "No idea whatsoever."

Zach says (to Floyd), "x holder"

Floyd ] Bead Store 29 / 64
Floyd | >Floyd | > X HOLDERFloyd |
Floyd | It's a wooden stand, roughly four feet in height. It has three
Floyd | protruding grips on top to hold a smallish crystal ball (which is
Floyd | present). The base is circular in shape and rather thick.
Floyd |
Floyd | An animate human skeleton staggers into the store from outside. Its
Floyd | walk is slow, considered and focused, as if controlled by an
Floyd | inexperienced puppeteer. It has in its fingers a bloody and seeping
Floyd | severed head, which it discards to one side of the room.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey lets out a quick scream of shock when she sees it hobble in,
Floyd | and I grab her arm and get her behind me. The skeleton's head swivels
Floyd | quickly from right to left as it gives the four of us on the ground a
Floyd | haunting peer.
Floyd |
Floyd | I scan the room and recall what's in my pockets and trying to find a
Floyd | decent weapon.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | >Floyd | > HIT SKELETON WITH HOLDERFloyd |
Floyd | I clobber the skeleton with the crystal ball holder.
Floyd |
Floyd | (The crystal ball holder breaks as a result, and I throw it down.)
Floyd |
Floyd | "Choke it all down!" I scream.
Floyd |
Floyd | The skeleton collapses and falls to the ground.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Excellent, Jarret," Sydney rasps to me, from above. "It could not
Floyd | handle being hit that way..."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Skeletons are susceptible to blunt attacks." I shrug in a despondent
Floyd | attempt to mask my fear. "Y'know, Syd, I was thinking of just pulling
Floyd | off my trousers there for a second and breaking it into kibble with
Floyd | the Hammer of Thunderbolts that lives in my pants, but I didn't want
Floyd | to knock down all my friends in the process."
Floyd |
Floyd | She ignores my comment, as if unable to process it and feeling me not
Floyd | worthy of inquiry. The skeleton's weakness has been in every revision
Floyd | of the Monster Manual over the years. It's one of the first
Floyd | --
Floyd |
Floyd | "It's one of the first things you learn when playing D&D," says
Floyd | Sydney. A terrible smile crosses her face.
Floyd |
Floyd | It's terribly effective.
Floyd |
Floyd | I try to show no fear. (No additional fear, anyway.) "But that's an
Floyd | artifact of the game," I say. "It's a made-up construct. Something to
Floyd | give them a little more personality. There's no real-world basis for
Floyd | any of it." Keep thinking, Duffy, keep your mind busy, don't let this
Floyd | telepath get into your hea--
Floyd |
Floyd | "Probably not," she says. Her eyes turn empty and glow. "But who can
Floyd | tell? You have complicated my return slightly, but not for much
Floyd | longer. The look into your mind I obtained when we touched was so
Floyd | insightful. You're made up of so many deep, arbitrary little undead
Floyd | rules, rules you need to learn and exceptions you need to note."
Floyd |
Floyd | "What? Those aren't mine! I didn't make them!"
Floyd |
Floyd | "They will be. They are. You will find this place governed by them
Floyd | when you return to it. My power within this world will grow and that
Floyd | should keep you busy..."
Floyd |
Floyd | The room becomes much colder. Barnaby grabs me by the collar and leads
Floyd | the four of us out of the Bead Store.

smartgenes says, "maybe we needed the head"

DavidW says, "we can't take anything else"

Zach pushes the green 'space' button.

Floyd ] Chapter Four
Floyd | Gibs drags me out of the Bead Store as I try to plead with Sydney (or
Floyd | whatever is possessing her) to use anybody else as her template
Floyd | tonight, to give us back our friend, to let us all go. The room just
Floyd | keeps getting colder, and my words and breath form puffy clouds that
Floyd | fall short of reaching her. She never wavers in her silent smirk.
Floyd |
Floyd | We leave the Bead Store and collect ourselves out in the foyer. Most
Floyd | of the lighting in the Mall is now completely gone; lit instead by the
Floyd | moon through the skylights.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Fuck this fucking mall," says Gibs. "Let's go get Trott and get the
Floyd | fuck out of here. Jesus Fucking Christ."
Floyd |
Floyd | "I don't think we can just leave," says Audrey.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Why not?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "The thing that possessed Sydney said that the Mall will be governed
Floyd | by the arbitrary rules she found floating about in my head," I say.
Floyd | "With the showing of the skeleton, I think she means the undead
Floyd | rules."
Floyd |
Floyd | "What undead rules?" asks Gibs. "What are they, specifically? Which
Floyd | undead are we going to encounter? What will they act like?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Who are all you people?" says Casey in a voice like Gibs's,
Floyd | making fun of all his questions.
Floyd |
Floyd | "There's a progression," I say. "In the D&D undead table, it goes
Floyd | skeleton, zombie, ghoul, shadow, ghast or wight, wraith, mummy,
Floyd | spectre, vampire, ghost, lich... and then 'special.'"
Floyd |
Floyd | Gibs reflects on that for a couple seconds. "Ah. Sure. Special like
Floyd | Special Olympics, or -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "Special like they can kill with a scream or single touch."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yeah." Gibs shrugs. "I guess that's pretty special."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Wait," says Casey. "Do you hear that? There's something groaning out
Floyd | there, in that direction." She points to the west. "Can you guys hear
Floyd | it? It sounds like there's a lot of them."
Floyd |
Floyd | "I'll get us out of here," I say, quietly. I don't know if the others
Floyd | are paying attention to me. "I'll keep us all safe..."

DavidW says, "Sounds like Syd is changing the laws of physics to match the D&D rules. Marvy."

smartgenes says, "the dialogue reminds me of Scary Movie.. in a good way"

Zach says, "I hope we have a good saving throw vs. special"

DavidW asks, "we don't have dice, do we?"

Zach pushes the green 'space' button.

Floyd ] East Side Corridor 39 / 70
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side CorridorFloyd | There's only one more stretch of corridor on this level before one
Floyd | gets to the elevator, which leads down to the ground floor. To the
Floyd | south of this area is the Bead Store, exits otherwise lead west and
Floyd | east.
Floyd | Audrey, Casey, and Gibs are here. Gibs has Gibs's lacrosse stick.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

jenrexrode asks, "dropped all, no?"

Zach says, "Yeah, maybe it's still in the bead store."

Zach says, "I didn't want to waste time in combat by dropping one thing at a time."

Floyd ] East Side Corridor 39 / 73
Floyd | >Floyd | > TAKE MAGIC CARDSFloyd |
Floyd | Taken.
Floyd |
Floyd | The cold begins to really sting. It's too cold to stay in here, so I
Floyd | scatter back outside the Bead Store.
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side CorridorFloyd | There's only one more stretch of corridor on this level before one
Floyd | gets to the elevator, which leads down to the ground floor. To the
Floyd | south of this area is the Bead Store, exits otherwise lead west and
Floyd | east.
Floyd | Audrey and Casey are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] East Side Corridor 39 / 74
Floyd | >Floyd | > X CARDSFloyd |
Floyd | The cards are used in a game called 'Magic:The Gathering.' It's sort
Floyd | of like poker for nerds, except that the cards have special powers and
Floyd | so forth. I've never really gotten into it. Anyway, this is a small
Floyd | box containing wrapped packs of cards. There are about fifty or so in
Floyd | a box.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 39 / 75
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side of the MallFloyd | I'm at the eastern side of the Mall. To the north is Choad's Sporting
Floyd | Goods. My store is a bit to the east, and the Bead Store a bit to the
Floyd | west.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a table here, set adjacent to the Sporting Goods store.
Floyd |
Floyd | Gibs goes over to the gate of the Sporting Goods store and gives it a
Floyd | tug. "It's locked... what, do all the gates fall down when the power
Floyd | goes out or something?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "That's my understanding, yes." I casually inspect the gate. "Ever
Floyd | since somebody brought a bomb into the arcade there have been a host
Floyd | of security procedures not in other, normal malls. Trott knows how to
Floyd | work the security console, though. Let's go find him."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "ah. Plot says go Trott."

Zach says (to Floyd), "e"

Floyd ] Eastern End of the Mall 39 / 76
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Eastern End of the MallFloyd | This is far east as the Mall goes. The Mall technically dips a bit as
Floyd | one goes west, as it was originally constructed upon a landfill.
Floyd | There's a three-sided advertising kiosk in the middle of the corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | To the west is the Beads Store, Sporting Good Outlet and the (closed)
Floyd | Arcade.
Floyd |
Floyd | My store, the Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium, is to the south.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Back Office 39 / 79
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd | (opening the back office door first)
Floyd | Okay, the door is now open.
Floyd | I enter the back office hand-first, groping for the light switch. I
Floyd | find it, but flipping it has no effect. This act is not lost on Gibs.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Good work, there, Tesla," he says, albeit rather quietly. "The
Floyd | electricity is out everywhere."
Floyd |
Floyd | It takes a moment, but our eyes adjust to the darkness.
Floyd |
Floyd | Back OfficeFloyd | The back office is made up of a number of shelves which hold boxes of
Floyd | 'Magic' game cards, and other stock we don't want out by the
Floyd | customers. There's barely enough room for two people to stand
Floyd | side-by-side here. There are two exits, one back to the store and one
Floyd | that leads to the garbage hall (and eventually, beyond that, to the
Floyd | security area).
Floyd | Sitting on the shelves is a cardboard box.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Trott's not here..." I say to Gibs.
Floyd |
Floyd | Gibs doesn't say anything. I turn back to look at him and his face has
Floyd | blanched. He snaps out of it but doesn't look at me. He points ahead
Floyd | and whispers, "Look at the window to the door, Duffy..."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Back Office 39 / 80
Floyd | >Floyd | > LOOK AT WINDOWFloyd |
Floyd | I creep up to the window of the hallway door and take a closer look at
Floyd | it. A bloody handprint has been smeared upon the other side.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Back Office 39 / 87
Floyd | >Floyd | > X HANDPRINTFloyd |
Floyd | Well, five fingers are there, and there seems to be no doubt that they
Floyd | were covered in blood when they were pressed up against the other side
Floyd | of the glass.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Garbage Hall 39 / 92
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Garbage HallFloyd | Gibs and I enter the long hallway that sits behind a number of stores.
Floyd | It's here to allow us to drop off whatever cardboard and trash we
Floyd | accumulate during the day for janitorial services. I know from memory
Floyd | that there is a door on the east side that opens into a sort of
Floyd | mini-lounge for the mallcops, but there isn't enough light to really
Floyd | make it out very well.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Zach says (to Floyd), "e"

Floyd ] Mallcop Lounge 39 / 94
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd | (opening the second corridor door first)
Floyd | Opened.
Floyd |
Floyd | Mallcop LoungeFloyd | The Lounge is far more spacious than the last few areas, and has
Floyd | enough room for a couple of couches, a television, a big plant, and a
Floyd | water cooler.
Floyd |
Floyd | On the far side of the room is a door which leads to a long walkway
Floyd | (on the other side of which, I think, is the actual Mall Security
Floyd | headquarters).
Floyd |
Floyd | "This isn't what I expected a Mall lounge to look like," says Gibs.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall Back Hallway 39 / 99
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd | (opening the lounge door first)
Floyd | Opened.
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall Back HallwayFloyd | This hallway is strangely shaped, and I am unable to make out
Floyd | everything within it. On the far side of the hall is a door that leads
Floyd | to the Security Room, but I can only barely make it out from here. The
Floyd | only real items in the room are a pair of doors and a large
Floyd | garden-variety plant in the corner.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is no transparent moon roof or anything in this room, so Gibs
Floyd | sticks his lacrosse stick up against the door so that we get light
Floyd | from the Lounge.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Do you think Trott got into the Security Room?" asks Gibs. "Do you
Floyd | think he made it this far?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Security Room 59 / 112
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Security RoomFloyd | We open the door and see Trott bolt right up from his chair.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Oh, geez... thank Christ it's you guys. Wait, did you get past that
Floyd | -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yeah, we did," I say. "I think we killed it."
Floyd |
Floyd | I take a look around the room. There's a big console against the west
Floyd | wall which controls the gates, electricity and breakers for all the
Floyd | shops in the Mall. I imagine that Trott has been trying to get it
Floyd | operational for sometime now.
Floyd | Trott is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Security Room 59 / 113
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 3Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Well, it took a chunk out of me." Trott lifts his shirt up to show
Floyd | some deep claw marks just below his rib cage. "I first saw it when I
Floyd | went through the door to our back room. I was able to get back, and it
Floyd | started groping at the window every few seconds. I timed it, opened
Floyd | the door, and just bolted back here. I sure had no idea where it was
Floyd | or if it had followed me... looks like it was just on the other side
Floyd | of this freaking door!"
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "What were you doing in here? Taking a nap, you
Floyd | testicle?"
Floyd | (2) "The mallcop got turned into a zombie. What I can't figure out is
Floyd | why you weren't."
Floyd | (3) "Hey... did you know that was us?"
Floyd | (4) "Hey, the lounge door got locked. Can you unlock it?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

Floyd ] Security Room 59 / 117
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "What? No," says Trott. "I've been here -- what do you mean, a
Floyd | 'testicle'? Cripes, I -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "I'm just kidding around. Would you have preferred 'gonad'? What did
Floyd | you do when the lights went out?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "I was in the back room when the lights went out. I heard the
Floyd | auto-kick-in for the gate... kick in, so I went out and verified that
Floyd | the thing was locked and that it wouldn't open from the inside. What
Floyd | happened anyway?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Duffy interrupted his girlfriend's seance," says Barnaby.
Floyd |
Floyd | "It wasn't a seance," I say.
Floyd |
Floyd | "I know. I just wanted to see if you'd be able to resist
Floyd | anal-retentively correcting me."
Floyd |
Floyd | Trott waits a bit before he says anything further. He doesn't like
Floyd | Gibs much.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Anyways," says Trott, "The only way to get out is to get the mallcops
Floyd | to let me out. I made my way back through the first door when I saw
Floyd | that thing. It took a chunk out of my side, but I eventually got by
Floyd | it, ran in here and locked the door. What was that? It wasn't a bot.
Floyd | It was wearing the clothes of one of the security guys who works at
Floyd | the Mall. But what happened to him?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "Do you know how to work the console?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

Floyd ] Security Room 59 / 120
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 2Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Okay... " Trott flips a few switches on the console. "It's up."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Thanks."
Floyd |
Floyd | "OK, before you go, why don't you take this phone? The Mall only pays
Floyd | for it to work as a CB radio for the mallcops, but if you need more
Floyd | gates raised, just let me know through it."
Floyd |
Floyd | "All right, sounds like a plan," I say. "I'll try to keep you posted
Floyd | as to what is going on out there."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mallcop Lounge 59 / 124
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mallcop LoungeFloyd | The Lounge is a largish, open room with a high ceiling. There are a
Floyd | couple of old couches here, along with a television, water cooler and
Floyd | plant life of unknown make and origin.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits lead north and west.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] Garbage Hall 59 / 125
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Garbage HallFloyd | This is a long hallway that sits behind a number of stores. The store
Floyd | owners and workers put their trash in this hallway for janitorial
Floyd | services. There is a door to the security lounge to the east and a
Floyd | door to the back office of Benji's store to the south.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "s"

Floyd ] Back Office 59 / 126
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Back OfficeFloyd | The back office is a cramped and tight little room with shelves on
Floyd | both sides.
Floyd |
Floyd | There are two exits, one back to the store and one that leads to the
Floyd | garbage hall (and eventually, beyond that, to the security area).
Floyd | Sitting on the shelves is a cardboard box.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Eastern End of the Mall 59 / 128
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Eastern End of the MallFloyd | This is far east as the Mall goes. The Mall technically dips a bit as
Floyd | one goes west, as it was originally constructed upon a landfill.
Floyd | There's a three-sided advertising kiosk in the middle of the corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | To the west is the Beads Store, Sporting Good Outlet and the (closed)
Floyd | Arcade.
Floyd |
Floyd | My store, the Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium, is to the south.
Floyd | Audrey and Casey are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey, Dungeon Master," says Audrey. "Did you find Trott?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yeah. He's back operating the security console for us." Huh. 'DM,'
Floyd | she said. She normally only calls me that when she's in a good mood
Floyd | about our chances.
Floyd |
Floyd | "He didn't want to come with you?" she asks.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Maybe he would have, but he'll be able to open the gates we want if I
Floyd | contact him through this," I show her the phone.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Did you guys try the gate at the Sporting Good store already?" asks
Floyd | Gibs.
Floyd |
Floyd | "No, not yet," says Audrey. "We just got bored waiting for you, so we
Floyd | headed over this way."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Also," says Casey, "We went over to where the escalator was. You
Floyd | wouldn't believe how foul it smells over there!"
Floyd |
Floyd | "How bad is it? My previous high score in this department is my
Floyd | roommate Pang's custom Dance Dance Revolution pad that he
Floyd | keeps downstairs and only uses with bare feet in some bizarro-logic
Floyd | attempt to keep it 'nice.' I mean, is it worse than -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "It's worse," Audrey says softly, her eyes closed in the pain of the
Floyd | persistence of this memory, "Much, much worse."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

jenrexrode reads

Zach says, "I wonder if Trott will turn into a zombie."

Zach says, "I don't think that's a thing in D&D"

jenrexrode says, "i think so"

jenrexrode says, "hm"

smartgenes says, "i wondered if he is already possessed"

jenrexrode says, "well undead rules"

DavidW says, "no, we did zombie already. Trott will be something else later."

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "l"

Floyd ] Eastern End of the Mall 59 / 129
Floyd | >Floyd | > LFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Eastern End of the MallFloyd | This is far east as the Mall goes. The Mall technically dips a bit as
Floyd | one goes west, as it was originally constructed upon a landfill.
Floyd | There's a three-sided advertising kiosk in the middle of the corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | To the west is the Beads Store, Sporting Good Outlet and the (closed)
Floyd | Arcade.
Floyd |
Floyd | My store, the Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium, is to the south.
Floyd | Audrey and Casey are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 59 / 130
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side of the MallFloyd | I'm at the eastern side of the Mall. To the north is Choad's Sporting
Floyd | Goods. My store is a bit to the east, and the Bead Store a bit to the
Floyd | west.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a table here, set adjacent to the Sporting Goods store.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey and Casey follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | "This won't take me a moment to sort out," says Gibs. "I'll be in and
Floyd | out like a greased German through the Maginot Line."
Floyd |
Floyd | "I thought the Germans circumvented around the Maginot Line?"
Floyd | I say.
Floyd |
Floyd | "No. You've got that confused with what they did with the bounds of
Floyd | good taste when they collectively invented scheisse porn,"
Floyd | says Gibs with commanding authority. "Anyway, more importantly, I know
Floyd | just where the shotguns would be in this store. Anyone want to come
Floyd | with?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "I'll go," says Audrey. "I'll try to find some helmets and pads and
Floyd | such."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Pads?" This is good. Very good. "Oh, so you were able to trickle a
Floyd | puck past the five hole with the Detroit Red Wings after all?" I ask
Floyd | Audrey.
Floyd |
Floyd | "What?" It takes Audrey a moment to translate my intended delicate
Floyd | innuendo in her head, but when she does, she's not laughing. "No. I
Floyd | meant like shoulder pads and shin guards. For personal defense." She
Floyd | pauses for a moment. "What on earth is wrong with you?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Whoops. "I'll just, ah, stay out here with Casey, then."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

jenrexrode reads

smartgenes asks, "did we go in the arcade?"

DavidW says, "no, it's always been locked because of the bomb prior to story."

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 59 / 131
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "I broke up with my boyfriend not too long ago," says Casey. "Other
Floyd | than that, nothing much."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey, really? What brought that on?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "He never wanted to go do anything," she says, "But you know what it
Floyd | was, really? He would always wear a baseball cap, and wear it so that
Floyd | the bill was always right over his eyes. Every time I would try to
Floyd | kiss him, I would have to navigate around the thing. Romance shouldn't
Floyd | be a frustrating puzzle in three-dimensionality, you know? Sometimes I
Floyd | just wanted to get intimate, not play a real-life game of
Floyd | Klax."
Floyd |
Floyd | I don't know what Klax is, so I just nod in agreement.
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "Hey, you talk to Audrey all the time. Is she going to dump me
Floyd | again?"
Floyd | (2) "Gibs... I mean, Barnaby, he wears his hat backwards."
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

jenrexrode says, "wow, time for klax"

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "2"

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 59 / 132
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 2Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "That's definitely a point in his favor. Make sure he gives me his
Floyd | number when we get out of here. I'm tired of being either cooped-in on
Floyd | the weekend or hanging out at the Bead Store like tonight."
Floyd |
Floyd | "You seem awfully confident that we are going to get out of here."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Shouldn't I be? From what Audrey tells me, whatever we resurrected...
Floyd | or, I guess, 'surrected' in this case, isn't any match for the geek
Floyd | encyclopedia you've got knocking about in that skull of yours." She
Floyd | gives me a genuine smile of reassurance and I, to my discredit, don't
Floyd | have the heart to tell her that in reality most of the thoughts
Floyd | knocking about in my head have to do with how I'm going to get back
Floyd | with her best friend.
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "What does Audrey want from me, then?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 59 / 133
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "You're going to have to ask her that, eventually, Jarret."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yes. I know. Eventually."
Floyd |
Floyd | "What does she want? She wants to be with you, in my opinion, anyway.
Floyd | I've seen her with other guys in between the dozen or so times you two
Floyd | have broken up. She is always so much happier when she is together
Floyd | with you. She just lights up when you enter the room, you know that?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "I didn't know that." I try to think back the best I can, to try to
Floyd | get some sort of visual holographic proof of this, but I just can't.
Floyd | Maybe I've just never been paying attention.
Floyd |
Floyd | "But she wants to see you take the next step, Jarret." Casey turns and
Floyd | looks right into my eyes. "She's going to graduate soon. The future is
Floyd | coming and everything. I think, ultimately, what she wants to know is
Floyd | if you think you have one."
Floyd |
Floyd | I hear Gibs swear violently from within the Sporting Goods store.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Jarret!" screams Audrey, "Help!"Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says, "i'm trying to resist the urge to type KISS CASEY"

DavidW says, "oh, our cue on stage just got called."

smartgenes asks, "there's surely time to KISS CASEY first?"

DavidW says, "nope"

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "n"

Floyd ] Choad's Sporting Goods 59 / 134
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Choad's Sporting GoodsFloyd | There is a light blue-skinned, feral beast hunched over towards the
Floyd | corner of this store. A ghoul, just as how I'd imagine it. It has
Floyd | Audrey backed up against the eastern wall. A row of jacket racks
Floyd | separates them from me. Gibs is much closer, and seems to be holding
Floyd | the ghoul at bay by slowly darting in and out of its range, and
Floyd | preventing it from ripping Audrey apart by giving it another target.
Floyd | That won't stop it for long. The only thing preventing the ghoul from
Floyd | shredding Audrey is its attempt to work out just how he can
Floyd | incapacitate and consume them both.
Floyd | There is a circular jacket rack here.
Floyd | The ghoul, Audrey, and Gibs are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Gibs swears violently.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Jarret!" screams Audrey, "Help!"Floyd |
Floyd | >

jenrexrode says, "pushing the rack doesn't seem like a final move"

DavidW says, "Normal physical attacks still apply for ghouls."

smartgenes says, "a circular jacket rack"

DavidW says, "The head might've helped here; ghouls feed on the dead."

smartgenes says, "apparently its victim can become a ghoul in 1d4 days"

Floyd ] Choad's Sporting Goods 74 / 140
Floyd | >Floyd | > THROW RACK AT GHOULFloyd |
Floyd | I hit the ghoul with the circular jacket rack.
Floyd |
Floyd | (The circular jacket rack breaks as a result.)
Floyd |
Floyd | I hear a grotesque snapping sound coming from the thing. I completely
Floyd | flattened it on that last one!
Floyd |
Floyd | I walk over to Audrey. She's shivering.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Are you OK?" She nods. "Where did your coat go?" She doesn't say. She
Floyd | shakes her head and melts into my arms. I hold her, hug her and bring
Floyd | her as close as I can. Her face is buried within my chest and I
Floyd | scratch the back of her head and feel her close-cropped hair on her
Floyd | neck flick through my fingers. I had no idea if I'd ever feel that
Floyd | again, or feel her body, alive and whole, this close to mine. "I'll
Floyd | keep you warm," I say with a whisper.
Floyd |
Floyd | Casey enters from the entrance to the south. "Ugh," she says, after
Floyd | spotting what's left of the ghoul. "What on earth did you do to that
Floyd | thing?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Choad's Sporting Goods 74 / 143
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | I say it just like Gollum from the The Lord of the RingsFloyd | talking about the precious of his very own. I don't say it at first, I
Floyd | don't say it right away... but I say it and she knows what I mean by
Floyd | it. Her body shakes with a quick, stifled bit of laughter. I'm so glad
Floyd | she's here with me that it doesn't even occur to me that it must be
Floyd | killing Gibs to not be able to tell us just how bop we are
Floyd | for each other.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Choad's Sporting Goods 74 / 145
Floyd | >Floyd | > LFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Choad's Sporting GoodsFloyd | Choad's Sporting Goods exists under the unfortunate circumstance that
Floyd | the owner's name translates into Bengali as 'fuck.' Once or twice a
Floyd | year there will be a demonstration or protest from a bunch of local
Floyd | student Hindus, but nothing ever changes.
Floyd |
Floyd | The store is one of the larger ones in the Mall, about 40' wide and
Floyd | 140' long. Ski jackets take up almost all the area towards the front
Floyd | of the store, as far as I can see, with the entire western wall filled
Floyd | with displays of discount tennis sneakers.
Floyd |
Floyd | There doesn't seem to be any rifles or shotguns for sale. (It appears
Floyd | as if Gibs's intuition was incorrect.)
Floyd | There is a circular jacket rack here.
Floyd | The ghoul, Audrey, Gibs, and Casey are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 74 / 147
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd | "Can you watch Gibs for a bit?" I ask Casey.
Floyd |
Floyd | "It won't be a problem," she says.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey goes up to him, still in his frozen state, and gives him a kiss
Floyd | on the cheek. "Have a good thaw," she says.
Floyd |
Floyd | I take her hand and put it in mine and together we leave the Sporting
Floyd | Goods store.
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side of the MallFloyd | I'm at the eastern side of the Mall. To the north is Choad's Sporting
Floyd | Goods. My store is a bit to the east, and the Bead Store a bit to the
Floyd | west.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a table here, set adjacent to the Sporting Goods store.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey pulls on my hand, to begin to drag me towards the far side of
Floyd | the Mall. "Jarret, let's go this way," she says. "The elevator is on
Floyd | the over this way. I think I know how we can get to it."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd | I can't go that way. I can go west to the beginning of the east wing,
Floyd | east to the eastern end of the mall, or north to Choad's Sporting
Floyd | Goods.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says, "lol i knew it was gonna say that"

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "e"

Floyd ] Eastern End of the Mall 74 / 148
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Eastern End of the MallFloyd | This is far east as the Mall goes. The Mall technically dips a bit as
Floyd | one goes west, as it was originally constructed upon a landfill.
Floyd | There's a three-sided advertising kiosk in the middle of the corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | To the west is the Beads Store, Sporting Good Outlet and the (closed)
Floyd | Arcade.
Floyd |
Floyd | My store, the Gaming and Role-Playing Emporium, is to the south.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "But we're gonna have to get much better weapons and defenses to survive this mall."

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 74 / 149
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side of the MallFloyd | I'm at the eastern side of the Mall. To the north is Choad's Sporting
Floyd | Goods. My store is a bit to the east, and the Bead Store a bit to the
Floyd | west.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a table here, set adjacent to the Sporting Goods store.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says, "WEAR CLOTHES PEG ON NOSE"

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] East Side Corridor 74 / 150
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side CorridorFloyd | There's only one more stretch of corridor on this level before one
Floyd | gets to the elevator, which leads down to the ground floor. To the
Floyd | south of this area is the Bead Store, exits otherwise lead west and
Floyd | east.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW asks, "Wasn't the elevator west?"

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] Before the Elevator 74 / 150
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Before the ElevatorFloyd | The floor of the Mall comes up against a rail, forming a barrier which
Floyd | prevents further (sane) western travel. The bottom (ground floor)
Floyd | level can be viewed with ease, though, as the guardrail mainly
Floyd | prevents kids -- future productive Mall denizens! -- from ragdolling
Floyd | their way off the edge.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a horrific stench in this area. It's new, too -- the guy who
Floyd | used to take the surveys always kept himself cheerfully clean.
Floyd | There is a kiosk in the center of the hallway. At the far end of the
Floyd | rail is an elevator.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey quietly points over to the kiosk and whispers right into my
Floyd | ear.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Do you see that? Do you see the wraith?"Floyd |
Floyd | I squint. The lighting is so dark... I don't see it. I adjust my
Floyd | glasses and still nothing. I shake my head in the negative.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey takes my hand in hers and we duck into the Jewelry Store...

smartgenes says, "not a Ghast, but a wraith"

jenrexrode asks, "great, she wants to look at rings... now?"

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "l"

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 74 / 151
Floyd | Audrey takes my hand in hers and we duck into the Jewelry Store...
Floyd | Jewelry StoreFloyd | We both press ourselves flat up against the wall of the Jewelry Store.
Floyd |
Floyd | "How are we to get past the wraith, Jarret?" Her eyes dart down and to
Floyd | the side as she tries to remember if she ever encountered one in a
Floyd | role playing game. "... I can't remember," she says.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Sunlight, and I don't know how long until that will show up." I say.
Floyd | Was there really a wraith there? Outside the store? I didn't see a
Floyd | thing. It is colder down this way than it was in the rest of the Mall,
Floyd | though. "Yeah. Sunlight is the only thing I'm 100% positive on, maybe
Floyd | there are others." I strain to try to remember, but I haven't used a
Floyd | 'wraith' character in any games that I've played in a very long time.
Floyd | I'm certain there are other ways... I just can't recall.
Floyd | Sitting on the tabletop is a pleather purse.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 74 / 154
Floyd | >Floyd | > SEARCH PURSEFloyd |
Floyd | Inside the pleather purse is the silver comb.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey looks over to the east wall. "What do you think... what is
Floyd | that, Jarret?" she whispers.
Floyd |
Floyd | I can't quite tell at first, but as the haze beings to form more
Floyd | familiar shapes, it starts to dawn on me.
Floyd |
Floyd | "It's a vision," I tell her.
Floyd |
Floyd | Displayed on the west wall of the Jewelry Store is a scene. I can make
Floyd | out Gibs and Audrey clearly... there seems to be one or two other
Floyd | figures moving in the background.
Floyd |
Floyd | "That's a scene from that tournament we went to, isn't it?" asks
Floyd | Audrey.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 79 / 155
Floyd | >Floyd | > TAKE COMBFloyd |
Floyd | Got it. Ooh, silvery!
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey continues to look at the vision. The scene takes on a greater
Floyd | contrast, with muted blues smeared together in fog with darker earth
Floyd | colors.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Why... what's up with Gibs giving you a thumbs-up sign? This vision
Floyd | takes place from your perspective, doesn't it?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "I just made what was my sixth straight saving throw. He gave me a
Floyd | thumbs-up because I was using loaded dice."
Floyd |
Floyd | "What?!" says Audrey, and then instantly brings her voice down a
Floyd | couple levels due to the wraith. "What the hell do you mean, you were
Floyd | using loaded dice?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "I ordered some red 20 sided dice before the tourney over the
Floyd | Internet. They were weighted to give out mostly 18s, 19s and 20s.
Floyd | What? What's the big deal? That was years ago!"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Ssh!" Audrey puts her hand over my mouth. "The big deal is that the
Floyd | Tourney is where we met! Do you think I would want to go out with you
Floyd | if you were cheating everybody in the room?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Oh come on, don't start this bullshit. It wasn't like I was at
Floyd | DragonCon or something. Christ!"
Floyd |
Floyd | "No. You weren't. You were cheating your friends. That makes it worse,
Floyd | you know."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says, "the answer should have been COMB WRAITH, that would have been great"

DavidW says, ">explain that we were Kirk beating the Koryashi Maru scenario"

jenrexrode says, "hah"

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "2"

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 79 / 157
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 2Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Oh, it's hilarious, all right," says Audrey. "You know me. There's
Floyd | nothing I find funnier than stories of the guy that I've been with for
Floyd | the last five years ripping off everyone I know like a unconscionable
Floyd | rogue at a lawless bazaar."
Floyd |
Floyd | "The Wizards of the Coast were going to give that to me anyway. The
Floyd | dice didn't really change anything, other than the fact that I made a
Floyd | few extra saving throws and got a few extra hits in. You have to
Floyd | appreciate the return on the investment, at least."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Oh, sure. You're a regular Gordon Gecko," says Audrey.
Floyd |
Floyd | "I can't believe you're comparing me to white collar criminals."
Floyd |
Floyd | "I can't believe you essentially commit white collar crime." Audrey
Floyd | shrugs her shoulders.
Floyd |
Floyd | The ether(?) that makes up the vision dissipates completely and it
Floyd | completely disappears.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey sits herself up against the east wall of the store.
Floyd |
Floyd | "So you found a comb, I see," says Audrey. "Maybe you can do something
Floyd | with that mound of straight hay on top of your head with it." She
Floyd | gives me a smile after she says that to let me know it was said with
Floyd | affection.
Floyd |
Floyd | "It's a silver comb," I tell her. "I'm sure it's quite valuable."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Isn't silver a type of bane to wraiths?" asks Audrey.
Floyd |
Floyd | I try to bring up the memory of what affects wraiths from the back of
Floyd | my mind, but my memory is hardly photographic. "I think you're right,"
Floyd | I say to her. "I think it works against a lot of undead. A little
Floyd | trinket like this might just scare it off, but that's a big maybe. I
Floyd | don't really want to throw the comb and find out."
Floyd |
Floyd | I can't think of anything to say right now.
Floyd |
Floyd | I took a look over towards the wall that Audrey is leaning up against.
Floyd | The shadow that she should be throwing is nowhere near the one that is
Floyd | present.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Audrey," I whisper, "Do not move. You're not casting a proper shadow.
Floyd | I -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "What?" she asks. She moves away from the wall, and sure enough, the
Floyd | light that she should be blocking is completely inconsistent with
Floyd | what's there.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | >Floyd | > HIT SHADOW WITH COMBFloyd |
Floyd | I clobber the shadow with the silver comb.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Who else wants a piece of the pain pie?" I ask.
Floyd |
Floyd | Upon coming in contact with the silver, the shadow halts in place and
Floyd | disintegrates -- it falls to the floor in a little pile of soot-like
Floyd | dust. I get down and blow it away in order to properly scatter it into
Floyd | nothingness.
Floyd |
Floyd | I walk over towards Audrey. She's shivering. "You OK, doll?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yes," says Audrey, quietly. "It's just so cold in here. I'm sorry. I
Floyd | don't mean to complain."
Floyd |
Floyd | I embrace her for a few moments and rub my hands over her bare
Floyd | shoulders. "I'll keep you warm..." She nods. "Silver definitely worked
Floyd | on the shadow," I muse. "It used up the comb, however. But the same
Floyd | thing'll work on the wraith. We just need to find more of it. The
Floyd | girls that work here (presuming that they didn't rip the place off
Floyd | blind before calling it a night) keep all the jewelry locked up in the
Floyd | safebox." I point over towards the big locker-style cabinet against
Floyd | the western wall of the store. "If we can get the temperature in here
Floyd | to be significantly colder, I'm betting that lock will pop."
Floyd |
Floyd | "How do we do that?" asks Audrey. She looks over towards the wraith.
Floyd | "Oh, no. You don't mean -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yes," I say quietly. "Let's get the wraith in here."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Jarret, no! You can't be serious!"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Ellison logs on just to see that the game hasn't crashed horribly and is relieved that doesn't seem to be the case.

smartgenes says, "but we can't get close to it as it has crazy touch"

smartgenes says, "ah well we did anyway"

jenrexrode says (to Ellison,), "oh it did"

jenrexrode says, "we had to restart"

Ellison says, "aw, sorry, guys"

jenrexrode says, "and haven't saved in ages..."

DavidW says, "That was a bug in the game, not a crash."

smartgenes says, "that's ok thogh as i was able to rejoin where it was when i left"

jenrexrode says, "oh, I don't know the difference."

Zach was referred to as looking like "a cross between the chicken dance and a foot stomping robot" to the untrained eye.

Ellison says, "well, some of the bugs might be my fault, too. I changed the game's behavior on several things (granted, I know I fixed at least a couple of things)."

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "1"

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 87 / 160
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Jarret! I don't want that thing in here!"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Audrey, you know that I will not let it touch you. There's a lock
Floyd | just like this one in my store, and it's made of ridiculously poor
Floyd | components. Everyone involved in owning a store in this Mall is
Floyd | incredibly cheap and only worried about the bottom line and how much
Floyd | money they can squeeze out of their customers. I will guarantee you
Floyd | that as soon as the temperature is brought down a few degrees Celsius
Floyd | that lock is coming off like a prom dress. A lock of this type busted
Floyd | earlier today at my store when Gibs placed his iced soft drink next to
Floyd | it."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Okay..." she says. She kisses me for entirely too brief a time and
Floyd | looks right into my eyes. "I trust you."
Floyd |
Floyd | I suddenly feel like I can do anything. One scream and the wraith will
Floyd | make its way over here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

jenrexrode says (to Ellison), "it was a place where someone was supposed to ask us a question, and it didn't until we replayed. Zach played in a Hugo somethingsomehting"

DavidW says, "ah, we can scream instead of playing shepherd's dog."

smartgenes asks, "wasn't it her idea to bring the wraith in?"

jenrexrode says, "oh, I didn't know it was the big gulp breaking the lock."

DavidW says, "no"

DavidW says, "(to smartgenes)"

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "scream"

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 87 / 161
Floyd | >Floyd | > SCREAMFloyd |
Floyd | I scream like a housewife in a 50s sitcom coming across a mouse. Like
Floyd | an English siren during the blitz. (Like Lorraine Williams surrounded
Floyd | by a bunch of pen & paper gamers, even.) And it works. The wraith
Floyd | turns round and passes right through the kiosk. It slowly begins to
Floyd | come near us.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 87 / 162
Floyd | >Floyd | > OPEN CABINETFloyd |
Floyd | I can't open it on my own. The lock, while not incredibly sturdy and
Floyd | powerful, is still more than I can crack on my own.
Floyd |
Floyd | I hear a voice, strangely disembodied, but one I instinctively know is
Floyd | coming from the wraith.
Floyd |
Floyd | "oh delightful maiden this will be a wonderful meeting will it not and
Floyd | you seem oh so achingly warm and tight and I really only want to get
Floyd | close to you for only a moment do not you see how wonderful oh how
Floyd | wonderful that will be my darling..."
Floyd |
Floyd | The wraith never really stops its sending, but instead meanders about
Floyd | a couple different themes. What he's going to do to my girlfriend
Floyd | being one of them. (With all the guys who have tried to steal my
Floyd | girlfriend over the years, I finally feel I am on somewhat familiar
Floyd | territory.)
Floyd |
Floyd | The wraith glides a bit closer to the entrance of the Jewelry Store.
Floyd | It is already several degrees colder in here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Ellison says, "I know some of the chapter 3 daemons don't start until you talk to this or that character, but yeah, I'll have to check the recap and look into it."

jenrexrode says, "break lock with inventory"

DavidW says, "yeah, we didn't try talking to Gibs until too late."

DavidW asks, "I can't remember what we have in inventory. Purse, drink, postcard, what else?"

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 87 / 163
Floyd | >Floyd | > BREAK LOCK WITH STICKFloyd |
Floyd | The lock is especially designed to be impervious to any and all brute
Floyd | attacks.
Floyd |
Floyd | The wraith glides further; it's now within the Jewelry Store, but
Floyd | still a fair ways away from Audrey.
Floyd |
Floyd | The lock to the safebox pops.
Floyd |
Floyd | It continues its raving, more in my head than not:
Floyd |
Floyd | "your death will be so pleasing my love I promise that getting there
Floyd | will be quick and painless I am the only one you can trust you know I
Floyd | will always be there for you and never leave your side you and I there
Floyd | isn't a thing that we wouldn't be able to do together my lovely witch
Floyd | princess all it takes is for you to just sit still that is it just
Floyd | another few moments and I will be there and we will be together so
Floyd | wonderfully so wonderfully it will be so wonderful...
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 87 / 164
Floyd | >Floyd | > LOOK IN CABINETFloyd |
Floyd | The safebox is closed.
Floyd |
Floyd | The wraith sends another meandering rhyme to me...
Floyd |
Floyd | "let me tell you of our wonderful death my darling," mentally
Floyd | continues the wraith, "you cannot begin to imagine the wonders that we
Floyd | will see together everything you could ever want everything that has
Floyd | been out of your reach well it is not out of mine it is not out of
Floyd | ours let me ask you this my darling a simple question take all the
Floyd | time in the world just answer me truthfully... have you ever wanted to
Floyd | fly?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "open safebox"

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 87 / 165
Floyd | >Floyd | > OPEN SAFEBOXFloyd |
Floyd | Done -- it's open.
Floyd | Inside the safebox are the handful of silver rings.
Floyd |
Floyd | The wraith inches closer to Audrey...
Floyd |
Floyd | Amazingly (to me at least) I see Audrey enraptured by the wraith and
Floyd | she actually nods her head a little in response to its question. It
Floyd | takes all my self-control to not attack the fucking nothingFloyd | with my bare hands.
Floyd |
Floyd | "of course you have there is no shame in admitting such a thing let me
Floyd | tell you my darling just how wondrous it is to float above this city
Floyd | this world this plane with nothing holding you down and nothing
Floyd | keeping you from doing what you want to do being who you wish to be
Floyd | you will see oh how you will see it will not be long now my darling
Floyd | just hold yourself I will be there and we will be together..."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 87 / 166
Floyd | >Floyd | > GET RINGSFloyd |
Floyd | Taken.
Floyd |
Floyd | The wraith moves until he is directly in front of Audrey. I won't have
Floyd | much time now.
Floyd |
Floyd | "hold still my darling this is so much easier when you just stay there
Floyd | so beautifully within my own view..."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes asks, "ring ring wraith with rings?"

DavidW says, "I think we have to throw the rings at it."

jenrexrode says, "throw em, I guess"

DavidW says, "If we can't wear 'em."

DavidW says (to Floyd), "throw rings at wraith"

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 112 / 167
Floyd | >Floyd | > THROW RINGS AT WRAITHFloyd |
Floyd | I hit the wraith with the handful of silver rings.
Floyd |
Floyd | Upon coming in contact with the charms, the wraith immediately
Floyd | atomizes, taking the silver with him into oblivion.
Floyd |
Floyd | "That was my Treasure Type you were fucking with, creep!" I
Floyd | say it even though the wraith is completely blinked out of existence.
Floyd | It takes me a fair trice to realize that thing is truly gone. "Let's
Floyd | get out of here," I say to Audrey. "Unless you want to get to work on
Floyd | raising the temperature of the room with a little bit of body heat."
Floyd |
Floyd | To my surprise, she looks back at me with nothing but love. "If I
Floyd | thought it could be done," she says, "without it becoming a menage a
Floyd | trois with a lurking horror, or a four-way with an undead ettin... you
Floyd | know I would." (An ettin is a two-headed beastie in D&D, which elicits
Floyd | a smile from me. That's my girl!)
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says, "but maybe we can wear now.. but it will take 2 turns"

smartgenes says, "this may be a lot bigger a game than i thought then"

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "s"

Floyd ] Before the Elevator 112 / 168
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Before the ElevatorFloyd | The floor of the Mall comes up against a rail, forming a barrier which
Floyd | prevents further (sane) western travel. The bottom (ground floor)
Floyd | level can be viewed with ease, though, as the guardrail mainly
Floyd | prevents kids -- future productive Mall denizens! -- from ragdolling
Floyd | their way off the edge.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a horrific stench in this area. It's new, too -- the guy who
Floyd | used to take the surveys always kept himself cheerfully clean.
Floyd | There is a badly-cracked kiosk in the center of the hallway. At the
Floyd | far end of the rail is an elevator.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | Barnaby and Casey come up to us as we leave...
Floyd |
Floyd | "Heya there, Duffy," says Gibs, no longer paralyzed. Casey is with
Floyd | him. "Any luck with the elevator?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Not yet. We encountered a vision , shadow and wraith, though."
Floyd |
Floyd | "So what's changed?" asks Gibs.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Well, the Jewelry Store is open and the makeup kiosk is broken down.
Floyd | Other than that..."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "x kiosk"

Floyd ] Before the Elevator 112 / 169
Floyd | >Floyd | > X KIOSKFloyd |
Floyd | The makeup kiosk is a business that operates in a very small rectangle
Floyd | in the middle of the Mall corridor. Girls (and in this town, a
Floyd | not-insignificant number of goth guys) stop by to pretty themselves up
Floyd | for their dates and/or midnight angstings.
Floyd |
Floyd | It looks like the intense cold of the wraith passing through the kiosk
Floyd | caused the thing to crack open.
Floyd |
Floyd | Inside the makeup kiosk is a bottle of perfume.
Floyd |
Floyd | Gibs spits once off the guardrail because he's a filthy, disgusting
Floyd | animal at heart.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Before the Elevator 122 / 175
Floyd | >Floyd | > X ITFloyd |
Floyd | (assuming you mean the bottle of perfume)
Floyd | This bottle of perfume is a fairly large container of the Elizabeth
Floyd | Arden perfume 'True Love' (A feminine scent that is a blend of lotus,
Floyd | iris and jasmine, recommended for office wear.)
Floyd |
Floyd | A girl who worked at my D&D store for a season used to wear this
Floyd | scent, and it was all I could concentrate on. She'd erode my sense of
Floyd | smell regarding all else within a minute of beginning her shift.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

jenrexrode says, "out perfume on elevator"

smartgenes says, "i thought that said "beginning her shit""

jenrexrode says, "er put, but just kidding"

DavidW says, "I'm imagining a sign: You must be THIS smelly to enter this ride."

smartgenes says, "we probably use it on that ghast you mentioned"

DavidW says, "I think we need to wear the perfume to negate the stench."

Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd | There's not a path in that direction.
Floyd |
Floyd | There are exits north to the Jewelry Store, in towards the Elevator
Floyd | and east towards the east side of the Mall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "enter elevator"

Floyd ] Elevator 122 / 178
Floyd | >Floyd | > ENTER ELEVATORFloyd |
Floyd | Audrey says, "No way. We're not going to follow you until you do
Floyd | something about that smell."
Floyd |
Floyd | ElevatorFloyd | The elevator smells terrible, strongly of untreated or unembalmed
Floyd | cadavers. There are three buttons here in the elevator labelled 'up,'
Floyd | 'down' and 'open doors.'
Floyd |
Floyd | I'm currently on the second level of the Mall. Aside from the
Floyd | operational panel, there is little else here in the lift.
Floyd |
Floyd | I can see into the corridor ahead, although only a few feet before the
Floyd | darkness completely envelopes the hall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Elevator 122 / 181
Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd | The elevator doors open, and I'm struck by the terrible, pungent odor
Floyd | of carrion. It's far too much for what I can bear: it's absolutely the
Floyd | worst-smelling air I have ever experienced.
Floyd |
Floyd | I briefly steal a glance of what lay beyond in the corridor on the
Floyd | first level of the Mall before squashing the up button on the elevator
Floyd | -- it's mostly dark, but I can make out the cupid statue. The stench
Floyd | is just too much for me. however. I can't force myself to do anything
Floyd | from here except escape.
Floyd |
Floyd | The elevator comes to rest on the top floor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Before the Elevator 122 / 183
Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Before the ElevatorFloyd | The floor of the Mall comes up against a rail, forming a barrier which
Floyd | prevents further (sane) western travel. The bottom (ground floor)
Floyd | level can be viewed with ease, though, as the guardrail mainly
Floyd | prevents kids -- future productive Mall denizens! -- from ragdolling
Floyd | their way off the edge.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a horrific stench in this area. It's new, too -- the guy who
Floyd | used to take the surveys always kept himself cheerfully clean.
Floyd | There is a badly-cracked kiosk in the center of the hallway. At the
Floyd | far end of the rail is an elevator.
Floyd | There is a crystal ball holder here.
Floyd | Casey is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "x cupid"

Floyd ] Before the Elevator 122 / 184
Floyd | >Floyd | > X CUPIDFloyd |
Floyd | It's a nicely-sculpted, eight-foot marble work of the mythological god
Floyd | of love. Cupid (known as Eros in Greek myth) was often depicted as
Floyd | being a winged baby or cherub that would just start freaking out and
Floyd | begin slinging arrows at people so they would indulge in a torrent of
Floyd | romance, love and sex.
Floyd |
Floyd | This statue was commissioned by the guy who owns and rents out the
Floyd | Mall, from a student at the local art college. Cupid's in a pose where
Floyd | he seems to be taking deadly aim at people.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, East Edge 152 / 190
Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, East EdgeFloyd | I'm on the first level (ground floor) of the Mall, a lot closer to the
Floyd | lone exit than where I was previously. I'll need to get past a few
Floyd | more stretches of corridor (which is under a blanket of darkness) and
Floyd | then past the Food Court. And I hesitate to think about what is in
Floyd | store for me until I get to that point.
Floyd |
Floyd | In the center of the corridor is a sculpted marble statue.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey, Gibs, and Casey follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Well, we got this far," says Gibs. "What's the plan, now? How are we
Floyd | getting out?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "We could try the exit by the big Outlet Tech Store, can't we?" asks
Floyd | Casey.
Floyd |
Floyd | "They went bankrupt," I say. "When the Septium Computer Processor was
Floyd | declared an instrument of bedevilment and banned by the Mayor in 2012,
Floyd | the hottest selling item that Christmas had to be removed from the
Floyd | store. We can try to go that way, but I am almost positive that exit
Floyd | access was cemented over." I shrug.
Floyd |
Floyd | "So we'll probably have to slog through the Food Court, speedily going
Floyd | about our business with as much haste as molasses slow-fucking a giant
Floyd | land turtle." says Gibs. He spits with disgust -- the Food Court floor
Floyd | never gets cleaned. It's kind of gross.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yeah, everyone jump over the ochre jellies," whispers Audrey, almost
Floyd | to herself. After a beat, she realizes what she said and turns towards
Floyd | me. "Hey! You've got me doing it now!"
Floyd |
Floyd | Gibs laughs. "Duffy's veritable roster of sexually transmitted
Floyd | diseases is not the only thing infectious about him," he
Floyd | offers.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "x statue"

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, East Edge 152 / 191
Floyd | >Floyd | > X STATUEFloyd |
Floyd | It's a nicely-sculpted, eight-foot marble work of the mythological god
Floyd | of love. Cupid (known as Eros in Greek myth) was often depicted as
Floyd | being a winged baby or cherub that would just start freaking out and
Floyd | begin slinging arrows at people so they would indulge in a torrent of
Floyd | romance, love and sex.
Floyd |
Floyd | This statue was commissioned by the guy who owns and rents out the
Floyd | Mall, from a student at the local art college. Cupid's in a pose where
Floyd | he seems to be taking deadly aim at people.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, Eastern Edge 152 / 195
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, Eastern EdgeFloyd | I enter this bit of hallway and am taken back by the glorious fountain
Floyd | that dominates the scene. I've seen it hundreds, even thousands of
Floyd | times in normal daylight, but the small bits of ambient light
Floyd | currently available reflects off the fountain in a simply breathtaking
Floyd | manner.
Floyd |
Floyd | While Audrey, Casey and myself are checking out the fountain (and
Floyd | momentarily entranced by the beauty thereof) Gibs wanders off and goes
Floyd | further down the corridor. I forget him for a moment until he lets out
Floyd | a blood-curdling scream.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Duffy! Look out! It's the fucking ghast!"
Floyd |
Floyd | I turn and look -- that's exactly what it is. A green-skinned feral
Floyd | beast with glazed-over eyes and torn clothes. Gibs falls to the floor,
Floyd | presumably knocked out by the ghast's stench and so far from where the
Floyd | perfume bottle broke open. The ghast stomps once on his head and runs
Floyd | over towards us. I motion for Audrey and Casey to get back behind the
Floyd | fountain.
Floyd | The ghast, Gibs, Audrey, and Casey are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | The ghast attacks and hits me!
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says, "hmm and we have no spray"

jenrexrode says (to Floyd), "x fountain"

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, Eastern Edge 152 / 196
Floyd | >Floyd | > X FOUNTAINFloyd |
Floyd | The fountain is rich limestone artifact that was discovered years ago
Floyd | in a poured-over closet in Italy and flown out here at great expense.
Floyd | It has been converted from its original state as a Renaissance-era
Floyd | commissioned sculpture to a marketing tool for the Mall.
Floyd |
Floyd | It's about six feet at the base and rather shallow -- water would only
Floyd | come up to one's ankles in its normal, calm state. The spout extends a
Floyd | couple of feet up from the dead center of the base. There are a few
Floyd | inscriptions and symbols on the thing, but nothing I can decipher.
Floyd |
Floyd | Inside the fountain is some water.
Floyd |
Floyd | Inside the fountain is some water.
Floyd |
Floyd | The ghast attacks and hits me!
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, Eastern Edge 183 / 199
Floyd | >Floyd | > THROW WATER AT GHASTFloyd |
Floyd | "Drink up, Dupre!" I throw the water at the ghast's upper
Floyd | torso. It screams -- a horrible, piercing shriek of disbelief, and
Floyd | inhuman pain. My aim was a bit off, as the water chews through his
Floyd | shirt, eats through his belly and stomach and begins hissing away at
Floyd | the consumption of his rotting intestines and grodie twists of
Floyd | entrails.
Floyd |
Floyd | I wipe a little sweat away from my face and see that he truly can't
Floyd | comprehend what has happened to him. I sort of feel sorry for him...
Floyd | not just because the ghost killed him once, but because she brought
Floyd | him back and then he got killed in a second, crueler, manner.
Floyd |
Floyd | The slashing sounds of evaporation fade away as the last bits of the
Floyd | ghast inanimately fall to the floor and crumble into nothingness. His
Floyd | head bounces to the floor of the Mall. Gibs wakes himself up and
Floyd | blinks stupidly a couple times as he sees the ghast's skull resting
Floyd | peacefully on the floor. He winds up and kicks it down the corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, Eastern Edge 183 / 205
Floyd | >Floyd | > X FOUNTAINFloyd |
Floyd | The fountain is rich limestone artifact that was discovered years ago
Floyd | in a poured-over closet in Italy and flown out here at great expense.
Floyd | It has been converted from its original state as a Renaissance-era
Floyd | commissioned sculpture to a marketing tool for the Mall.
Floyd |
Floyd | It's about six feet at the base and rather shallow -- water would only
Floyd | come up to one's ankles in its normal, calm state. The spout extends a
Floyd | couple of feet up from the dead center of the base. There are a few
Floyd | inscriptions and symbols on the thing, but nothing I can decipher.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | A little more water trickles into the fountain.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "I think we have to wait a turn for the water to respawn."

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, East Edge 183 / 216
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, East EdgeFloyd | This is the first level, or ground floor, of the Funtime Teen Mall.
Floyd | The lone Mall Exit leads in a westerly direction, past a few more
Floyd | stretches of darkness-enveloped corridor, and the Food Court. There's
Floyd | also a few more stores to the west, with the Mall passageways
Floyd | expanding to all four directions at that point.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits lead west to the rest of the Mall, and inside to the elevator.
Floyd |
Floyd | In the center of the corridor is a sculpted marble statue.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey, Gibs, and Casey follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Before the Elevator 183 / 219
Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Before the ElevatorFloyd | The floor of the Mall comes up against a rail, forming a barrier which
Floyd | prevents further (sane) western travel. The bottom (ground floor)
Floyd | level can be viewed with ease, though, as the guardrail mainly
Floyd | prevents kids -- future productive Mall denizens! -- from ragdolling
Floyd | their way off the edge.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a badly-cracked kiosk in the center of the hallway. At the
Floyd | far end of the rail is an elevator.
Floyd | There is a crystal ball holder here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "e"

Floyd ] East Side Corridor 183 / 220
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side CorridorFloyd | There's only one more stretch of corridor on this level before one
Floyd | gets to the elevator, which leads down to the ground floor. To the
Floyd | south of this area is the Bead Store, exits otherwise lead west and
Floyd | east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "e"

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 183 / 221
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side of the MallFloyd | I'm at the eastern side of the Mall. To the north is Choad's Sporting
Floyd | Goods. My store is a bit to the east, and the Bead Store a bit to the
Floyd | west.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a table here, set adjacent to the Sporting Goods store.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] East Side Corridor 183 / 222
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side CorridorFloyd | There's only one more stretch of corridor on this level before one
Floyd | gets to the elevator, which leads down to the ground floor. To the
Floyd | south of this area is the Bead Store, exits otherwise lead west and
Floyd | east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "s"

Floyd ] Bead Store 183 / 223
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Bead StoreFloyd | The Bead Store smells strongly of incense and stale joints, and it
Floyd | almost overpowers every other sense. There are shelves on all sides of
Floyd | the store, but none in the middle of the store due to the drawn
Floyd | pentagram.
Floyd | A postcard, Barnaby's Big Gulp drink, the X-box are here.
Floyd | Sydney and the skeleton are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd | I can't go that way. I can go north to the beginning of the east
Floyd | wing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "n"

Floyd ] East Side Corridor 183 / 225
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side CorridorFloyd | There's only one more stretch of corridor on this level before one
Floyd | gets to the elevator, which leads down to the ground floor. To the
Floyd | south of this area is the Bead Store, exits otherwise lead west and
Floyd | east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] Before the Elevator 183 / 226
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Before the ElevatorFloyd | The floor of the Mall comes up against a rail, forming a barrier which
Floyd | prevents further (sane) western travel. The bottom (ground floor)
Floyd | level can be viewed with ease, though, as the guardrail mainly
Floyd | prevents kids -- future productive Mall denizens! -- from ragdolling
Floyd | their way off the edge.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a badly-cracked kiosk in the center of the hallway. At the
Floyd | far end of the rail is an elevator.
Floyd | There is a crystal ball holder here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, East Edge 183 / 230
Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, East EdgeFloyd | This is the first level, or ground floor, of the Funtime Teen Mall.
Floyd | The lone Mall Exit leads in a westerly direction, past a few more
Floyd | stretches of darkness-enveloped corridor, and the Food Court. There's
Floyd | also a few more stores to the west, with the Mall passageways
Floyd | expanding to all four directions at that point.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits lead west to the rest of the Mall, and inside to the elevator.
Floyd |
Floyd | In the center of the corridor is a sculpted marble statue.
Floyd | Audrey, Gibs, and Casey are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Poster Store 183 / 241
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Poster StoreFloyd | This place has been in the Mall for as long as I can remember. It
Floyd | really is just called 'Poster Store,' though when I first noticed it a
Floyd | few years back the 'T' on the sign was missing. For months I thought
Floyd | it was some theme store where white suburban kids exclusively bought
Floyd | cassettes detailing cop killing and bitch slapping.
Floyd |
Floyd | The Poster Store sells posters... and little else. There's a hanging
Floyd | flip-rack of posters in the corner of the store, and a few hanging up
Floyd | on the walls.
Floyd |
Floyd | Alongside the far wall is a set of oversized disembodied lips.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey, Gibs, and Casey follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Poster Store 183 / 246
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "Oh, I'll have a go, just have no fear -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | I'm fed up with the mouth's nonsense. I cut it off from going any
Floyd | further.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Just shut that wretched little hole before I cover you with a custom
Floyd | balm milked from your disgusting, available organs, bitchlips. I need
Floyd | help and answers and I'm wholly not interested in even remotely taking
Floyd | abuse from some matted, chudlike non-life hung up on a wall."
Floyd |
Floyd | A sudden unease creeps over me. What am I doing with my life?
Floyd | This is a terrible time for reflection, and I try to fight it off.
Floyd | Audrey starts to say something, like how lips aren't officially organs
Floyd | or something equally helpful, but I ignore the interruption and
Floyd | continue. "You don't want to be in the Mall any more than I do. Help
Floyd | me out."
Floyd |
Floyd | Nothing happens for at least fifteen seconds. I get ready to leave
Floyd | before the lips purse. Finally.
Floyd |
Floyd | "How?" it says, at last.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Poster Store 191 / 250
Floyd | >Floyd | > TURN RACKFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The first poster in this set depicts a kind of ritual. There is a red
Floyd | pentagram on the floor, and a bunch of pilgrims, quakers or hippies
Floyd | holding hands around it. (I can never really differentiate between the
Floyd | three.) It's eerily reminiscent of the attempt at an invoking
Floyd | performed earlier by Audrey, Gibs, Syd and Casey... RelativelyFloyd | speaking, anyway, as encountering a wraith and zombie tonight has
Floyd | raised the scale for what I will consider 'eerie' in the future.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "again"

Floyd ] Poster Store 199 / 251
Floyd | >Floyd | > AGAINFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The second poster shows a ghost -- a child's rendition of a spirit,
Floyd | really, with looming, evil eyes and a reversed teardrop shape. It's
Floyd | emerging from some other world or dimension inside the pentagram.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "g"

Floyd ] Poster Store 199 / 252
Floyd | >Floyd | > GFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Er, this poster is actually one of Samantha Fox pouring milk all over
Floyd | herself in the shower.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "hm, This rack may give us some hints."

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "g"

Floyd ] Poster Store 207 / 253
Floyd | >Floyd | > GFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | This poster seems to be by the same artist as the other two, but
Floyd | rather than being drawn from a bird's eye perspective like those
Floyd | posters, it is a close-up of a young boy reading passages from a
Floyd | thick, craggily book. Locks of the boy's hair descend over his glasses
Floyd | and he's decked out all in black, wrapped in a weary and somber
Floyd | expression.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "so we need a 'book'"

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "g"

Floyd ] Poster Store 215 / 254
Floyd | >Floyd | > GFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The fourth poster in this set shows a little girl with her eyes
Floyd | downcast. She is drinking from a radiant, glowing urn. The girl is
Floyd | wearing a silvery dress and has a key around her neck.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Do you see the symbolism in this picture, Jarret?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "The girl? No. Is she ashamed? Is that why she's looking down?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "No... I mean, around her neck. The key."
Floyd |
Floyd | "What's the key to?" I ask.
Floyd |
Floyd | "It's... well, actually, maybe it isn't really symbolism. But I think
Floyd | that's to a chastity belt." She releases her study of the picture and
Floyd | gives me a subtle, wry smile. "You know, my father wanted to put me in
Floyd | one when we first started dating."
Floyd |
Floyd | "It's good that he didn't. I would have just picked it."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Oh, really?" she says, with a bit of faux, exaggerated inquiry. "You
Floyd | know, skills from a game don't always translate to real life."
Floyd |
Floyd | "I know. I would have done it with my tongue. I have like a cold iron
Floyd | fetish, I just haven't told you yet because the subject hasn't come up
Floyd | and that's a tough one to drop on somebody." We stare at each other's
Floyd | eyes for a moment, 'till she breaks the gaze with a smile she
Floyd | unsuccessfully tries to hide.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "and bitchin' clothes"

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "g"

Floyd ] Poster Store 223 / 255
Floyd | >Floyd | > GFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The second-to-last image is of a person from the first poster
Floyd | surrounded by numerous lit candles. There are seemingly millions of
Floyd | candles in the scene, and it's almost like an optical illusion, as the
Floyd | 'negative space' for certain candles comprise many separate ones when
Floyd | viewed in a different way. No candle seems to have a single,
Floyd | identifiable color (or rather, they seem to include all possible
Floyd | colors) and one can only really make out a single flame glowing
Floyd | serenely upon them.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "I would've tried to take the key from the poster, in case it was a real key."

Floyd ] Poster Store 215 / 255
Floyd | >Floyd | > X POSTERFloyd |
Floyd | The fourth poster in this set shows a little girl with her eyes
Floyd | downcast. She is drinking from a radiant, glowing urn. The girl is
Floyd | wearing a silvery dress and has a key around her neck.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "g"

Floyd ] Poster Store 215 / 256
Floyd | >Floyd | > GFloyd |
Floyd | The fourth poster in this set shows a little girl with her eyes
Floyd | downcast. She is drinking from a radiant, glowing urn. The girl is
Floyd | wearing a silvery dress and has a key around her neck.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "turn rack"

Floyd ] Poster Store 223 / 257
Floyd | >Floyd | > TURN RACKFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The second-to-last image is of a person from the first poster
Floyd | surrounded by numerous lit candles. There are seemingly millions of
Floyd | candles in the scene, and it's almost like an optical illusion, as the
Floyd | 'negative space' for certain candles comprise many separate ones when
Floyd | viewed in a different way. No candle seems to have a single,
Floyd | identifiable color (or rather, they seem to include all possible
Floyd | colors) and one can only really make out a single flame glowing
Floyd | serenely upon them.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW asks, "hm, but the lips mentioned a key too. But 'key' isn't known by the parser?"

smartgenes says, "the lips could just be joke thing"

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "g"

Floyd ] Poster Store 231 / 258
Floyd | >Floyd | > GFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | yousTayaWayyouSICKLITTLEBOY!!Floyd |
Floyd | The last scene shows vibrant fire all over the edges, and the subjects
Floyd | all seem burned to a crisp. There is no sign of the ghost, but the
Floyd | bodies of the boy, the girl, and all their compatriots are viciously
Floyd | chunked and charred. It's a beautiful little bit of art, regardless of
Floyd | how horrible the scene it depicts, and how terrible the ulcer is that
Floyd | begins to grow in my stomach.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | >Floyd | > DFloyd |
Floyd | There is not an exit that way.
Floyd |
Floyd | There are exits north to the Record Store, and west, east and south to
Floyd | other corridors of the Mall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, West Edge 231 / 261
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, West EdgeFloyd | A kind of cave-in has apparently occurred here. While the gate north
Floyd | to the Novel Shoppe has been destroyed (and passage is possible), our
Floyd | path to the west is blocked by an enormous amount of rubble.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey, Gibs, and Casey follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | "This is the way out, isn't it?" asks Gibs. I nod, sagely, in the
Floyd | affirmative.
Floyd |
Floyd | He looks over the mess.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Look," says Gibs, "Why don't you and Audrey see if you can find any
Floyd | items that we'll need to get past whatever horrors are in store for us
Floyd | on the other side of this wall of junk? I'll start digging away at
Floyd | this and clear a path. Your sissy, atrophied she-muscles won't be able
Floyd | to really help any, Duffy."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "We can ask Trott to open the Record Store."

smartgenes asks, "see what's north?"

DavidW says, "A 'book', I assume."

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "n"

Floyd ] Discount Novel Shoppe 231 / 262
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Discount Novel ShoppeFloyd | You're supposed to be pumped to enter a book store in a mall.
Floyd |
Floyd | This isn't the case with this one. The novels contained herein are not
Floyd | discounted in terms of their cost, they are discounted, rather, in
Floyd | terms of their quality. A few years back there was a fad in publishing
Floyd | that resulted in the release of a large number of non-fiction books
Floyd | that were little more than paper printouts of 'successful' blog sites.
Floyd | (I say 'successful' in a manner of speaking like that, as in my
Floyd | opinion the only successful blog site is one that ends with
Floyd | the webcam suicide of its maintainer.)
Floyd |
Floyd | El circo de chamuscarse de la retina doesn't stop there.
Floyd | Shitty steampunk, trite Lycanthropian romance novels, pre-civilization
Floyd | thrillers featuring cavemen (well, cavepeople) and gimmick
Floyd | dictionaries were all part of the hardcover publishing's switch
Floyd | towards the tactics of pop music the last few years. These outright
Floyd | dolorous genres are fully represented here, making this place more a
Floyd | library or museum than a boutique.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is an exit to the south.
Floyd |
Floyd | Nailed to a couple of boards in the far corner of the room is a girl.
Floyd | Sitting on the cross is the crucified girl.
Floyd |
Floyd | Carelessly discarded on the ground next to the crucified girl is a
Floyd | thick, burgundy text.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "Told ya. A book."

jenrexrode says, "yeah, I don't know when to call trotter, but I think it should be timely"

smartgenes says, "it says "the cross" but what cross is it referring to"

DavidW says (to Floyd), "x girl"

Floyd ] Discount Novel Shoppe 231 / 263
Floyd | >Floyd | > X GIRLFloyd |
Floyd | The crucified girl seems to be of mild Hispanic descent. Her features
Floyd | are slightly olive, her hair dark and her eyes stained all the round
Floyd | by blood. She is wearing a torn black tank top, blue bandana with
Floyd | floral print, and sleek pair of tight shorts. Her build is slight --
Floyd | she is probably about five foot five at most, with slim, athletic
Floyd | legs.
Floyd |
Floyd | The girl's arms and right leg have been nailed to a makeshift cross,
Floyd | and the cross seems solidly affixed to the western wall. There are
Floyd | cuts and tears elsewhere on her body as well. It is difficult to tell
Floyd | how long she has been dead, but she is not sending off a waft of
Floyd | stench or anything, currently. She looks a lot like a girl that used
Floyd | to work in the paint and housewares store that used to be here in the
Floyd | Mall before they closed. I remember that she was really bright,
Floyd | resourceful, helpful and was working on her four-year degree. I really
Floyd | hope it's not her.
Floyd |
Floyd | She is dead.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, West Edge 271 / 281
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, West EdgeFloyd | This area is adjacent to the huge Food Court which is just over to the
Floyd | west. The amount of available light dwindles further, while the
Floyd | density of smoke present is the thickest I've seen yet.
Floyd |
Floyd | There's paths to the west (into the Food Court) and east (back into
Floyd | the first-floor corridor).
Floyd | Gibs and Casey are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "e"

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, Central Corridor 271 / 282
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "yeah. Cross but nothing else. Something to remember when we need a cross."

Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, Central CorridorFloyd | This stretch of the Mall hallway is covered with just a bit of rubble.
Floyd | There are clear exits to the west and south. The gate to the Record
Floyd | Store is down to the north.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, Central Corridor 271 / 290
Floyd | >Floyd | > X SPECTREFloyd |
Floyd | The spectre is a powerful, intangible, undead spirit consumed with
Floyd | hatred for those with warmth in their souls. Its touch drains an
Floyd | enormous amount of life energy, it is unaffected by silver, 'normal'
Floyd | iron, or cold.
Floyd |
Floyd | It would be powerless in daylight, but I am obviously several hours
Floyd | away from any such thing. It may be best to just avoid and and not
Floyd | antagonize it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The spectre heads off to the north.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, Southern Edge 271 / 293
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, Southern EdgeFloyd | I enter the southern-most section of the Mall, and it's as I feared:
Floyd | the Outlet SuperStore has been cemented over, so I won't be able to
Floyd | get to the exit doors that way. (I always arrive through the food
Floyd | court due to how the parking lots are structured.)
Floyd |
Floyd | There's two stores here that are accessible, however: a party favors
Floyd | store to the east, and then the Bead Store's main competitor -- a
Floyd | candle store, which is to the west.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "Trott, you're useless."

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "e"

Floyd ] Party On Central 271 / 294
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Party On CentralFloyd | This store is mostly unfurnished, with a low, bare ceiling, cold floor
Floyd | covered in cheap carpeting, and blankets and rugs thumb-tacked up to
Floyd | hide the peeling wallpaper and crumbling drywall.
Floyd |
Floyd | The contents of the room are a cluttered mess, as this place seems to
Floyd | be more of a craftsman's think-tank and construction area than pure
Floyd | chamber for commerce like so many other shops in the Mall. There's a
Floyd | workdesk and mirror along the northern wall and a file cabinet across
Floyd | from it. A small window is visible behind some junk, and directly
Floyd | across from the entrance are seven masks attached to the back wall in
Floyd | a proud display. Attached to one of the naked support beams is a disco
Floyd | laser pointer.
Floyd |
Floyd | Prominently displayed in the center of the room is a reserved, yet
Floyd | sizeable urn.
Floyd | Sitting on the workdesk is the blue balloon.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Party On Central 271 / 296
Floyd | >Floyd | > X CABINETFloyd |
Floyd | It's colored a deep beige and stands about as tall as I do. It, like
Floyd | most of the other things in the room, is of cheap construction.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Party On Central 271 / 303
Floyd | >Floyd | > X ITFloyd |
Floyd | (assuming you mean the blue balloon)
Floyd | It's colored blue, but the material used is a heavier than I'd expect
Floyd | -- like an expandable metallic bag. It floats in the air about where
Floyd | it's placed, so presumably it's got some helium in it, though a fair
Floyd | amount has leaked out.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "hm. fill the urn from the fountain, maybe."

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "x masks"

Floyd ] Party On Central 271 / 304
Floyd | >Floyd | > X MASKSFloyd |
Floyd | There's a collection of masks in the Party Store, though many of them
Floyd | valueless, and all of them locked up tight to the wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

jenrexrode asks, "then dump it on dead girl, and she'll give us a key?"

Floyd ] Party On Central 271 / 306
Floyd | >Floyd | > X WINDOWFloyd |
Floyd | This rare window offers a glimpse to what is going on outside. There
Floyd | is a terrible storm along the horizon that is visible from this
Floyd | direction. The clouds right above the mountains are electric with
Floyd | activity. The moon is soft and blurred and red-orange.
Floyd |
Floyd | I stay for too long a moment and take it all in. The window itself is
Floyd | unbreakable, of course, to fend off thieves, and it's far too small
Floyd | for me to fit through, but I can't deny how strong the feeling is to
Floyd | get on the other side of these walls, to sprint off into the distance
Floyd | until the snow-capped peaks are before me and to just burrow within
Floyd | them and hide until dawn... till some other dawn, days away.
Floyd |
Floyd | I come back to my senses after a few moments. I'll find another way
Floyd | out.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "I was thinking of giving the magic mouth a drink of holy water in an urn."

Floyd ] Party On Central 311 / 310
Floyd | >Floyd | > TURN ON POINTERFloyd |
Floyd | Party!! It's a FUN FOR ALL FREE PARTY ZONE! I get down and
Floyd | dance! Who doesn't like a rockin' party like this?
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "l"

Floyd ] Party On Central 311 / 311
Floyd | >Floyd | > LFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Party On CentralFloyd | This store is mostly unfurnished, with a low, bare ceiling, cold floor
Floyd | covered in cheap carpeting, and blankets and rugs thumb-tacked up to
Floyd | hide the peeling wallpaper and crumbling drywall.
Floyd |
Floyd | The contents of the room are a cluttered mess, as this place seems to
Floyd | be more of a craftsman's think-tank and construction area than pure
Floyd | chamber for commerce like so many other shops in the Mall. There's a
Floyd | workdesk and mirror along the northern wall and a file cabinet across
Floyd | from it. A small window is visible behind some junk, and directly
Floyd | across from the entrance are seven masks attached to the back wall in
Floyd | a proud display. Attached to one of the naked support beams is a disco
Floyd | laser pointer.
Floyd | Audrey is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Christ's Candles 311 / 320
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's CandlesFloyd | The Candle Store is the second-most picketed store, right after
Floyd | Choad's. It used to be a lot worse when it was a nail and board
Floyd | emporium, though. Some old and independently wealthy latin guy owns
Floyd | the place, though, and he just doesn't care about the Cash-In of the
Floyd | Christ.
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's Candles is decked out in a similar manner to the Bead Store,
Floyd | hippie stuff and dark shadows even when the power isn't completely
Floyd | out. This isn't the kind of city where one can set up a number of
Floyd | candles on stands like in the video to 'Wrapped Around Your Finger,'
Floyd | so instead all the candles and other objects are on shelves.
Floyd | There are a number of tiny birthday candles in packages all over the
Floyd | store, but the most impressive display is in the back, where an
Floyd | elegant, if clouded menorah rests upon a long display table.
Floyd | A Revenant is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Christ's Candles 351 / 322
Floyd | >Floyd | > X REVENANTFloyd |
Floyd | The Revenant is about a foot taller than me, and decked out in an old,
Floyd | charred robe. Its face is covered in hideous burn scars, not that the
Floyd | thing is doing itself any favors in the charisma department by wearing
Floyd | a constant sneer. Its fingernails are overgrown and apparently chewed
Floyd | or filed down to function as sharp claws. It breathes heavily, each
Floyd | gasp of air apparently being quite an effort to draw.
Floyd |
Floyd | Another vision appears before us. It shows a slender hand over a sink
Floyd | holding a one of those card pregnancy tests.
Floyd |
Floyd | The vision quickly pulls back, revealing Audrey in a bathrobe and her
Floyd | hair in towel. I think that I saw the card show a 'plus' sign before
Floyd | the vision ended. The only thing is... I have no idea what plus
Floyd | represents. Pregnant? Not expecting? Gender? I don't have a lot of
Floyd | experience in this sort of thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "l"

Floyd ] Christ's Candles 351 / 323
Floyd | >Floyd | > LFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's CandlesFloyd | The Candle Store is the second-most picketed store, right after
Floyd | Choad's. It used to be a lot worse when it was a nail and board
Floyd | emporium, though. Some old and independently wealthy latin guy owns
Floyd | the place, though, and he just doesn't care about the Cash-In of the
Floyd | Christ.
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's Candles is decked out in a similar manner to the Bead Store,
Floyd | hippie stuff and dark shadows even when the power isn't completely
Floyd | out. This isn't the kind of city where one can set up a number of
Floyd | candles on stands like in the video to 'Wrapped Around Your Finger,'
Floyd | so instead all the candles and other objects are on shelves.
Floyd |
Floyd | The floorspace towards the rear of the store is completely taken up by
Floyd | the long display table against the western wall.
Floyd | A Revenant and Audrey are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Christ's Candles 351 / 323
Floyd | >Floyd | > UNDOFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's CandlesFloyd | The Candle Store is the second-most picketed store, right after
Floyd | Choad's. It used to be a lot worse when it was a nail and board
Floyd | emporium, though. Some old and independently wealthy latin guy owns
Floyd | the place, though, and he just doesn't care about the Cash-In of the
Floyd | Christ.
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's Candles is decked out in a similar manner to the Bead Store,
Floyd | hippie stuff and dark shadows even when the power isn't completely
Floyd | out. This isn't the kind of city where one can set up a number of
Floyd | candles on stands like in the video to 'Wrapped Around Your Finger,'
Floyd | so instead all the candles and other objects are on shelves.
Floyd |
Floyd | The floorspace towards the rear of the store is completely taken up by
Floyd | the long display table against the western wall.
Floyd | Audrey and a Revenant are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Christ's Candles 351 / 324
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 4Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "She was not," the Revenant says quickly. "It is of little matter,
Floyd | however. Mistakes get made. She offered no real value to this world or
Floyd | any others. She will not be back for the foreseeable future."
Floyd |
Floyd | "That's excellent," I reply. "Thanks."
Floyd |
Floyd | "There is no need for thanks. It was not a favor I did, but an attempt
Floyd | to uncover the truth about my death." I give him a quick look of
Floyd | sympathy and understood pain, but it's totally fake. I'm hoping he
Floyd | can't determine my ruse, what with the flamb?ed face and eyes and
Floyd | everything. But either way he seems pretty relaxed.
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "A vampire, Kali, is your killer."
Floyd | (2) "Yeah. Sorry about that. I honestly thought she killed you."
Floyd | (3) "What was supposed to happen upon you finding your killer?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "3"

Floyd ] Christ's Candles 351 / 325
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 3Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "REST!" bellows the Revenant. I'm momentarily taken back by his
Floyd | outburst: there are absolutely no other sounds audible this far into
Floyd | the Mall. "A sweet, everlasting relaxation that I so richly deserve.
Floyd | Many cultures have had many different names for it. Nirvana...
Floyd | Heaven... Ragnar?k..."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Actually, Ragnar?k wasn't a final state of bliss, like the Sanskrit
Floyd | Nirvana, but rather a foretelling of -- " The Revenant cuts me off and
Floyd | continues his monologue. What a complete cock!
Floyd |
Floyd | "A final resting place for a warrior such as I. It is as I deserve. I
Floyd | crave it, desperately... but first I must find the one that put me
Floyd | into this state and remove her from this world."
Floyd |
Floyd | I give the guy the fingerguns sign. "Good luck with that," I tell him.
Floyd | Jerk.
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "A vampire, Kali, is your killer."
Floyd | (2) "Yeah. Sorry about that. I honestly thought she killed you."
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

jenrexrode asks, "so do you think we'll find a vampire and help revenet battle it?"

DavidW says, "Perhaps."

*** SESSION TWO ***

DavidW says (to Floyd), "restore"

Floyd | >Floyd | > RESTOREFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Have you got a photographic memory? If you have you will find the
Floyd | following question to be very easy. If you haven't, please find your
Floyd | novella that came with the game called 'Which Witch?'. Please turn to
Floyd | page 2,345, then find line 233 (please note that lines start at 1,
Floyd | 'chapter' lines are included, but blank lines are not.) And count to
Floyd | word 4,096.
Floyd |
Floyd | Now please enter this word. Or just hit enter. You have three chances
Floyd | to get it right.
Floyd | Please enter word :

Floyd ] Christ's Candles 351 / 327
Floyd | Please enter word :Restored.
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's CandlesFloyd | The Candle Store is the second-most picketed store, right after
Floyd | Choad's. It used to be a lot worse when it was a nail and board
Floyd | emporium, though. Some old and independently wealthy latin guy owns
Floyd | the place, though, and he just doesn't care about the Cash-In of the
Floyd | Christ.
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's Candles is decked out in a similar manner to the Bead Store,
Floyd | hippie stuff and dark shadows even when the power isn't completely
Floyd | out. This isn't the kind of city where one can set up a number of
Floyd | candles on stands like in the video to 'Wrapped Around Your Finger,'
Floyd | so instead all the candles and other objects are on shelves.
Floyd |
Floyd | The floorspace towards the rear of the store is completely taken up by
Floyd | the long display table against the western wall.
Floyd | Audrey is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "whew"

Jacqueline says, "Golly, that joke was ... yeah."

smartgenes says, "there's something correct about mixing text adventure and book on the bookshelf"

Floyd ] Christ's Candles 351 / 329
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 3Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "What does a plus mean?" asks Audrey. "On a home pregnancy test? It
Floyd | means that you're not pregnant. Thank God."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Did you have a close call or something?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yes, we had a close call. Don't you remember? It wasn't that
Floyd | long ago. I had got off ICQ talking to one of your ex-girlfriends the
Floyd | night before. She told me that you, quote, 'wig out' when spoken to in
Floyd | Elvish or some other made-up language along those lines."
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey continues her story, but I start to get a flood of memories
Floyd | back from that night. I had actually deigned to go out clubbing with
Floyd | her for a night a few weeks back. (I usually don't, as I am such a
Floyd | lousy, self-conscious dancer.) She was wearing this tight little gray
Floyd | dress with slight horizontal lines across it, made out of this fuzzy
Floyd | fabric -- the outfit practically squealed 'do me' by itself.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey was grinding her way up against me every time I went onto the
Floyd | floor. I just seizured out. That's the only way I know how to dance. I
Floyd | almost never really consume much alcohol, but that night I was taking
Floyd | pull after pull of some Safeway Vodka that Sydney had smuggled into
Floyd | the club as if the contents of the bottle were nothing more innocuous
Floyd | than Mexican Kool-Aid. Audrey and I took a cab back to her place, and
Floyd | we were all over one another before we could find the light switch.
Floyd |
Floyd | She was on top of me for what seemed like the better part of an hour
Floyd | when she dipped down and whispered something into my ear.
Floyd | Tye-mela'ne. It's Tolkein Elvish for 'I love you.' We don't
Floyd | seem to say that to each other very much, but even drunk I instantly
Floyd | translated what she said and I... well, I went off like a Soviet
Floyd | Catapult: unexpectedly, unpredictably, and altogether quite messily.
Floyd |
Floyd | I hadn't thought about it -- about the consequences of it -- until
Floyd | just right now. I didn't mean for her to go through a pregnancy scare
Floyd | like that by herself. I just wasn't thinking about the details.
Floyd |
Floyd | (For what it's worth, the story that Audrey related as I had this
Floyd | flashback was pretty much exactly like mine, except that she said that
Floyd | we only jammed for something like fifteen minutes. She's got this
Floyd | crazy, post-Einsteinian view of how time really works though, so don't
Floyd | believe her.)
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "Well, what is fun, then? Educate me."
Floyd | (2) "Are we looking for a particular candle?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

Floyd ] Christ's Candles 351 / 332
Floyd | >Floyd | > LOOKFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's CandlesFloyd | The Candle Store is the second-most picketed store, right after
Floyd | Choad's. It used to be a lot worse when it was a nail and board
Floyd | emporium, though. Some old and independently wealthy latin guy owns
Floyd | the place, though, and he just doesn't care about the Cash-In of the
Floyd | Christ.
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's Candles is decked out in a similar manner to the Bead Store,
Floyd | hippie stuff and dark shadows even when the power isn't completely
Floyd | out. This isn't the kind of city where one can set up a number of
Floyd | candles on stands like in the video to 'Wrapped Around Your Finger,'
Floyd | so instead all the candles and other objects are on shelves.
Floyd |
Floyd | The floorspace towards the rear of the store is completely taken up by
Floyd | the long display table against the western wall.
Floyd | Audrey is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "x table"

Floyd ] Christ's Candles 351 / 333
Floyd | >Floyd | > X TABLEFloyd |
Floyd | The display table is a sort of countertop, approximately fifteen feet
Floyd | long and about three feet deep. It is made out of a hard plastic,
Floyd | faced off with a chipping formica plate.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, Central Corridor 351 / 336
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, Central CorridorFloyd | This stretch of the Mall hallway is covered with just a bit of rubble.
Floyd | There are clear exits to the west and south. The gate to the Record
Floyd | Store is down to the north.
Floyd | The cross is here.
Floyd | The spectre is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | The spectre heads off to the north.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says, "the spectre, it said, won't bother us if we leave it alone"

DavidW says, "nice of it. We'll probably have to tackle it eventually, though, I suspect."

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, East Edge 351 / 338
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, East EdgeFloyd | This is the first level, or ground floor, of the Funtime Teen Mall.
Floyd | The lone Mall Exit leads in a westerly direction, past a few more
Floyd | stretches of darkness-enveloped corridor, and the Food Court. There's
Floyd | also a few more stores to the west, with the Mall passageways
Floyd | expanding to all four directions at that point.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits lead west to the rest of the Mall, and inside to the elevator.
Floyd |
Floyd | In the center of the corridor is a sculpted marble statue.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Sunglasses Hut 351 / 342
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Sunglasses HutFloyd | I'm not quite sure why sunglasses and shades are only sold in 'huts'
Floyd | but this store is very un-hut like. There are three very solid walls
Floyd | here and a roof made not of thatch, but poured, cracking cement. The
Floyd | floor is hardly comprised of peat or mud, but the same tile present
Floyd | everywhere else in the Mall.
Floyd |
Floyd | A fair bit of ether has snaked itself into the room. It combines with
Floyd | the hand-picked and market-researched atmospheric lights that still
Floyd | function to give off a very deep, defracted and soothing look to the
Floyd | room. Vibrant purples and deep blues dominate the walls and counters
Floyd | of the Sunglasses Hut.
Floyd |
Floyd | I worked at this place for a week once when I was fighting with my
Floyd | manager at the D&D store. I acquired a little bit of trivia regarding
Floyd | this place (for instance, the center display case will open if it's
Floyd | tapped upon) but nothing useful otherwise.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes asks, "where is this food court though?"

DavidW says, "i wish I could remember more of what we've done and haven't done."

Floyd ] Sunglasses Hut 356 / 348
Floyd | >Floyd | > LOOKFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Sunglasses HutFloyd | A fair bit of ether has snaked itself into the room. It combines with
Floyd | the hand-picked and market-researched atmospheric lights that still
Floyd | function to give off a very deep, defracted and soothing look to the
Floyd | room. Vibrant purples and deep blues dominate the walls and counters
Floyd | of the Sunglasses Hut.
Floyd |
Floyd | I worked at this place for a week once when I was fighting with my
Floyd | manager at the D&D store. I acquired a little bit of trivia regarding
Floyd | this place (for instance, the center display case will open if it's
Floyd | tapped upon) but nothing useful otherwise.
Floyd | Audrey is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "I remember we have an inventory limit; we probably want to drop a few things in a central location."

smartgenes says, "the fountain might make sense"

DavidW says, "And I doubt it's good to wear the shades until we need them. We might miss a few things."

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, Central Corridor 356 / 356
Floyd | >Floyd | > X GATEFloyd |
Floyd | The gate is made up of interwoven metal links, but due to the lack of
Floyd | power over here it can't be opened.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says, "our phone contact can power down things, but he said he couldn't in this case"

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, West Edge 356 / 357
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, West EdgeFloyd | The area is free from the wreckage. Gibs, though is just standing up,
Floyd | completely motionless, facing the inky blackness that shrouds the Food
Floyd | Court from here. Casey is nowhere to be found.
Floyd | Gibs is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | "She was here, Duffy. She was beautiful."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Who was? Casey? Where's Casey?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Casey... " Gibs turns and looks at me for the first time since I came
Floyd | back. "No... not poor Casey. We finished up getting all the wreckage
Floyd | out of the way and as I looked up Casey was entranced by the most
Floyd | beautiful creature I have ever seen. Her skin was so pale, so fragile.
Floyd | She had this dark shock of bangs that framed her perfect face. As soon
Floyd | as I looked up, I froze. But she had locked eyes with Casey. I knew
Floyd | her name was Kali, but not how. Casey didn't seem to be able to move,
Floyd | at first, just like me. Then -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "It was a vampire, Gibs. I was hoping we'd avoid one, but -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "She took Casey by the hand and they both walked that way... into the
Floyd | darkness."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "I suppose a rust monster or other metal destroying agent is wanted for the record store gate."

smartgenes says, "the Revenant dude mentioned Kali had killed him, or something along those lines"

Floyd ] Food Court 356 / 362
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Food CourtFloyd | The Food Court is a vast, open area and I can only see about half of
Floyd | it from here due to the lack of light -- the entire western end of it
Floyd | is cloaked in darkness. There are a number of cheap square tables and
Floyd | static plastic chairs bolted to the floor here, although a few have
Floyd | somehow broken off and are loose.
Floyd |
Floyd | To the northeast is a Nutrition Store. They carry a large assortment
Floyd | of tabs, pills, drugs and spices. The Court has another section to the
Floyd | west, and there is an exit east from where we came.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey lets out a little surprised 'yip!' and runs over towards me.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Jarret!" she says, "I felt something brush up against my leg!
Floyd | Something's here, in this area with us!" Before I can pooh-pooh her
Floyd | objections to this area, a metal chair comes flying at us. It appears
Floyd | as if a poltergeist has infected the food court.
Floyd | A fluorescent light, a garbage can, a brown table, a short gray table,
Floyd | a plastic chair, a metal chair, a broken chair, and some chair parts
Floyd | are here.
Floyd | Casey is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey and Gibs follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | A garbage can comes flying right at me!
Floyd |
Floyd | A garbage can strikes me, and I take a little bit of damage.
Floyd |
Floyd | I notice something moving over in the far corner of the Food Court.
Floyd | It's a girl. She is wearing a reserved violet dress and has the most
Floyd | perfect, slim little figure I have ever seen.
Floyd |
Floyd | The vampire, I guess. It has to be; she's just as stunning as Gibs
Floyd | said.
Floyd |
Floyd | Focusing harder, I see Casey beside her, unmoving, defeated,
Floyd | completely obedient. The vampire whispers softly to her -- Casey snaps
Floyd | back into proper consciousness, and after a moment begins to look at
Floyd | her with loving trust. They are both several yards away, but I can
Floyd | make what the vampire says to her perfectly: Follow me, myFloyd | pet.Floyd |
Floyd | The vampire heads off to the west.
Floyd |
Floyd | Casey heads off to the west.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "I remember that the cross is only takeable by dropping everything else. Try it if you like."

Floyd ] Nutrition & Herb Store 361 / 364
Floyd | >Floyd | > NEFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Nutrition & Herb StoreFloyd | The Nutrition Store is dominated by a series of five-foot high shelves
Floyd | that make up four distinct aisles. The walls are a sickly shade of
Floyd | green which some junior ad exec no doubt thinks promotes quick sales
Floyd | decisions, when all it truly does is make customers eager to get the
Floyd | hell out before they add an equally off-putting color to the
Floyd | surrounding by use of their own acrid vomit.
Floyd |
Floyd | In the rear of the store is a modest plastic counter and an ancient
Floyd | analog cash register. Further behind that is a closed metal door that
Floyd | really clashes with what's going on otherwise, stylistically.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is no front gate to the Nutrition Store, only a ten foot cut in
Floyd | the wall. The opening is not quite centered, however, and a 5'x3' pane
Floyd | of glass has been placed into the southern wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits lead to the southwest and through the door.
Floyd |
Floyd | "There should surely be some garlic here," I say to myself...
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey and Gibs follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Basement to the Nutrition Store 366 / 366
Floyd | >Floyd | > GO THROUGH DOORFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Basement to the Nutrition StoreFloyd | I descend the stairs and enter the basement. The air is at least
Floyd | twenty degrees cooler down here than it is up above and it has a bit
Floyd | of a tangy, acrid -- almost 'chewy' quality to it. My breath turns
Floyd | into wispy, stringy clouds the instant it leaves my lips and I begin
Floyd | to feel my very bones come across a deep chill. I usually prefer
Floyd | winter to summer, so normally I wouldn't be put off by the frost down
Floyd | here and a few bad smells, but there's something different about the
Floyd | chill in the air down here. The temperature of the air seems
Floyd | malevolent, almost.
Floyd |
Floyd | The ceiling of the basement is about five and a half feet high, so I
Floyd | have to lurch over like I'm the hunchback of Notre Dork just to get
Floyd | around. The walls have a very rough texture to them, as if they were
Floyd | blasted away and then sanded down in a very half-assed manner.
Floyd |
Floyd | The corridor continues into darkness to the north.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "It's not listed there."

DavidW says, "I can try the other manuals"

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "n"

Floyd ] First Basement Corridor 366 / 367
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | First Basement CorridorFloyd | The light is very poor in this room, all of it coming from what can
Floyd | seep and pour through the metal door up above. The floor has turned to
Floyd | earth, however, and the walls seem to have a texture wholly different
Floyd | from the blasted rock earlier in the corridor. I can't say I'm totally
Floyd | suprised to find this area down here below the Mall, as rumor was that
Floyd | the place was built upon some burial grounds. I just never knew that
Floyd | they were, in parts, integrated.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits lead south and further on to the north.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "n"

Floyd ] Coffin Room 366 / 368
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Coffin RoomFloyd | The basement ceiling gets much taller in this room, about up to 15
Floyd | feet or so, I'd guess. At the very top is a small torch, which is
Floyd | providing a fair bit of the light in the room -- the rest of it is
Floyd | reflected from the coffin in the corner.
Floyd |
Floyd | The ground is no longer soft earth, either, but rather blocks of cold
Floyd | stone. The walls are made of some kind of brick which reflects a bit
Floyd | of light as well, although nowhere near as well as the coffin.
Floyd |
Floyd | A support beam has been installed next to the coffin. Beyond it, to
Floyd | the right, is a small and very dark alcove.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Alcove 366 / 371
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | AlcoveFloyd | I practically have to crawl to get into this little cave-like section
Floyd | cut away from the basement. The light is gobbled up from something
Floyd | inside, as nothing from the coffin room manages to get in here.
Floyd |
Floyd | The only thing of note here is a very small trestle up against the
Floyd | wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "According to the Fiend Folio, a poltergeist can only be harmed by magical or silver weapons. It can be driven back by holy water or holy symbols."

Floyd ] Alcove 366 / 372
Floyd | >Floyd | > X TRESTLEFloyd |
Floyd | In the corner of the alcove is a single trestle. It's obviously
Floyd | rotting away, and emitting a little bit of an old musty smell. It
Floyd | stands about two feet high and looks as if it might crumble at any
Floyd | time.
Floyd |
Floyd | The trestle has a garlic clove on it.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Coffin Room 381 / 374
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Coffin RoomFloyd | The ceiling in this room is unique within the basement, as it is
Floyd | actually enough up where I don't have to hunch. At the top of the
Floyd | ceiling is a single, lit torch, held at a diagonal against the wall
Floyd | with a bracket. All available light is strongly reflected from the
Floyd | coffin, which sits quietly in the corner of the room. The walls are
Floyd | made out of a flecked brick, and a support beam stands to the right of
Floyd | the coffin.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits are south towards the stairs and east into a tight alcove.
Floyd | The lid is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | I see two bandaged hands slowly emerge from darkness. They grope at
Floyd | the sides of the coffin. A figure rises, I see first the unwrapped,
Floyd | rotting head and then the torso, wound tight with stinking fibers and
Floyd | rags.
Floyd |
Floyd | The mummy turns its head directly towards me.Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "I have no idea. I thought the store might have garlic pills, to be honest."

Floyd ] Coffin Room 381 / 374
Floyd | >Floyd | > UNDOFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Coffin RoomFloyd | The ceiling in this room is unique within the basement, as it is
Floyd | actually enough up where I don't have to hunch. At the top of the
Floyd | ceiling is a single, lit torch, held at a diagonal against the wall
Floyd | with a bracket. All available light is strongly reflected from the
Floyd | coffin, which sits quietly in the corner of the room. The walls are
Floyd | made out of a flecked brick, and a support beam stands to the right of
Floyd | the coffin.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits are south towards the stairs and east into a tight alcove.
Floyd | The lid is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "Fire is good vs mummies, but I think you know that."

smartgenes says, "oops"

smartgenes says, "well, i think the cross is the only reach-object we have.."

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "x beam"

Floyd ] Coffin Room 381 / 375
Floyd | >Floyd | > X BEAMFloyd |
Floyd | The support beam is a strong and long block of stone keeping the
Floyd | ceiling up nice and high.
Floyd |
Floyd | The mummy exits the coffin.
Floyd |
Floyd | The mummy slowly begins to moan, seemingly within a weary, endless
Floyd | pain. It quickly shifts this to a scream. Its keen is of a deep tenor,
Floyd | and it begins thrashing about. Small scraps of deteriorating bandages
Floyd | fall from its person and onto the floor.
Floyd |
Floyd | The mummy strikes the support beam! Chunks of the ceiling fall
Floyd | downwards and it sounds as if the entire Mall has collapsed a little.
Floyd |
Floyd | The chaos breaks me out of my fear-trance. I feel I could flee now if
Floyd | I wanted to try.
Floyd |
Floyd | The mummy attacks and hits me!
Floyd |
Floyd | I feel awful after that last touch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says, "i have to go for an hour shortly"

DavidW asks, "ok. Maybe we can resume later today?"

smartgenes says, "ok"

Ellison goes back to Squeamhurst..

Ellison has disconnected.

smartgenes says, "i'm thinking run or hit the beam.."

DavidW says, "run, I think. The mummy is already hitting it, and the beam is 'strong'."

Floyd ] Basement to the Nutrition Store 381 / 377
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Basement to the Nutrition StoreFloyd | The temperature of the air down here in the basement is quite cold,
Floyd | probably no more than thirty degrees Fahrenheit. The ceiling is just
Floyd | over five feet high, and the walls have a very rough texture to them,
Floyd | as if they were blasted away and then poorly sanded.
Floyd |
Floyd | The mummy follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | The mummy attacks and hits me!
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Food Court 381 / 381
Floyd | >Floyd | > SWFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Food CourtFloyd | The Food Court is a vast, open area, and I can only make out about
Floyd | half of it from here. (The entire west end is shrouded in darkness.)
Floyd |
Floyd | To the northeast is a Nutrition Store. The Court has another section
Floyd | to the west, and there is an exit east from where we originally came.
Floyd | A fluorescent light, a garbage can, a brown table, a short gray table,
Floyd | a plastic chair, a metal chair, a broken chair, and some chair parts
Floyd | are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | The mummy, Audrey, and Gibs follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | The mummy attacks and hits me!
Floyd |
Floyd | *** JARRET DUFFY IS DEAD ***
Floyd |
Floyd | *** END OF SESSION ***
Floyd |
Floyd | The game has ended. Do you want to (R)ESTART, R(E)STORE a saved game,
Floyd | (U)NDO your last turn, or (Q)UIT?

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "e"

Floyd | (U)NDO your last turn, or (Q)UIT?
Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Have you got a photographic memory? If you have you will find the
Floyd | following question to be very easy. If you haven't, please find your
Floyd | novella that came with the game called 'Which Witch?'. Please turn to
Floyd | page 17, then find line 5 (please note that lines start at 1,
Floyd | 'chapter' lines are included, but blank lines are not.) And count to
Floyd | word 6.
Floyd |
Floyd | Now please enter this word. Or just hit enter. You have three chances
Floyd | to get it right.
Floyd | Please enter word :

DavidW presses the yellow enter button.

Floyd | Please enter word :Floyd |
Floyd | Have you got a photographic memory? If you have you will find the
Floyd | following question to be very easy. If you haven't, please find your
Floyd | novella that came with the game called 'Which Witch?'. Please turn to
Floyd | page 17, then find line 5 (please note that lines start at 1,
Floyd | 'chapter' lines are included, but blank lines are not.) And count to
Floyd | word 6.
Floyd |
Floyd | Now please enter this word. Or just hit enter. You have three chances
Floyd | to get it right.
Floyd | Please enter word :

DavidW presses the yellow enter button.

Floyd | Please enter word :Floyd | %% Enter a save filename to read:

DavidW says (to Floyd), "cf-nd"

Floyd ] Christ's Candles 351 / 327
Floyd | Please enter word :Restored.
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's CandlesFloyd | The Candle Store is the second-most picketed store, right after
Floyd | Choad's. It used to be a lot worse when it was a nail and board
Floyd | emporium, though. Some old and independently wealthy latin guy owns
Floyd | the place, though, and he just doesn't care about the Cash-In of the
Floyd | Christ.
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's Candles is decked out in a similar manner to the Bead Store,
Floyd | hippie stuff and dark shadows even when the power isn't completely
Floyd | out. This isn't the kind of city where one can set up a number of
Floyd | candles on stands like in the video to 'Wrapped Around Your Finger,'
Floyd | so instead all the candles and other objects are on shelves.
Floyd |
Floyd | The floorspace towards the rear of the store is completely taken up by
Floyd | the long display table against the western wall.
Floyd | Audrey is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Party On Central 351 / 335
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Party On CentralFloyd | This store is mostly unfurnished, with a low, bare ceiling, cold floor
Floyd | covered in cheap carpeting, and blankets and rugs thumb-tacked up to
Floyd | hide the peeling wallpaper and crumbling drywall.
Floyd |
Floyd | The contents of the room are a cluttered mess, as this place seems to
Floyd | be more of a craftsman's think-tank and construction area than pure
Floyd | chamber for commerce like so many other shops in the Mall. There's a
Floyd | workdesk and mirror along the northern wall and a file cabinet across
Floyd | from it. A small window is visible behind some junk, and directly
Floyd | across from the entrance are seven masks attached to the back wall in
Floyd | a proud display. Attached to one of the naked support beams is a disco
Floyd | laser pointer.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "I didn't really expect the laser to be a fire-source, but had to try."

DavidW says, "But I think if we can light the menorah, it's our best bet against the mummy."

smartgenes says, "yes"

smartgenes says, "there are probably some locations we haven't seen yet"

DavidW says, "oh, I'm sure."

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "x masks"

Floyd ] Party On Central 351 / 339
Floyd | >Floyd | > X MASKSFloyd |
Floyd | There's a collection of masks in the Party Store, though many of them
Floyd | valueless, and all of them locked up tight to the wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "Perhaps if we stand on the coffin we can light the menorah with the torch? Unless the menorah can reach it already."

Floyd ] Poster Store 351 / 344
Floyd | >Floyd | > X POSTERFloyd |
Floyd | The last scene shows vibrant fire all over the edges, and the subjects
Floyd | all seem burned to a crisp. There is no sign of the ghost, but the
Floyd | bodies of the boy, the girl, and all their compatriots are viciously
Floyd | chunked and charred. It's a beautiful little bit of art, regardless of
Floyd | how horrible the scene it depicts, and how terrible the ulcer is that
Floyd | begins to grow in my stomach.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "g"

Floyd ] Poster Store 351 / 345
Floyd | >Floyd | > GFloyd |
Floyd | The last scene shows vibrant fire all over the edges, and the subjects
Floyd | all seem burned to a crisp. There is no sign of the ghost, but the
Floyd | bodies of the boy, the girl, and all their compatriots are viciously
Floyd | chunked and charred. It's a beautiful little bit of art, regardless of
Floyd | how horrible the scene it depicts, and how terrible the ulcer is that
Floyd | begins to grow in my stomach.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Poster Store 351 / 348
Floyd | >Floyd | > FLIP RACKFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The first poster in this set depicts a kind of ritual. There is a red
Floyd | pentagram on the floor, and a bunch of pilgrims, quakers or hippies
Floyd | holding hands around it. (I can never really differentiate between the
Floyd | three.) It's eerily reminiscent of the attempt at an invoking
Floyd | performed earlier by Audrey, Gibs, Syd and Casey... RelativelyFloyd | speaking, anyway, as encountering a wraith and zombie tonight has
Floyd | raised the scale for what I will consider 'eerie' in the future.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "g"

Floyd ] Poster Store 351 / 349
Floyd | >Floyd | > GFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The second poster shows a ghost -- a child's rendition of a spirit,
Floyd | really, with looming, evil eyes and a reversed teardrop shape. It's
Floyd | emerging from some other world or dimension inside the pentagram.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "g"

Floyd ] Poster Store 351 / 350
Floyd | >Floyd | > GFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Er, this poster is actually one of Samantha Fox pouring milk all over
Floyd | herself in the shower.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "g"

Floyd ] Poster Store 351 / 351
Floyd | >Floyd | > GFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | This poster seems to be by the same artist as the other two, but
Floyd | rather than being drawn from a bird's eye perspective like those
Floyd | posters, it is a close-up of a young boy reading passages from a
Floyd | thick, craggily book. Locks of the boy's hair descend over his glasses
Floyd | and he's decked out all in black, wrapped in a weary and somber
Floyd | expression.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "g"

Floyd ] Poster Store 351 / 352
Floyd | >Floyd | > GFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The fourth poster in this set shows a little girl with her eyes
Floyd | downcast. She is drinking from a radiant, glowing urn. The girl is
Floyd | wearing a silvery dress and has a key around her neck.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says, "we got that book i think"

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "g"

Floyd ] Poster Store 351 / 353
Floyd | >Floyd | > GFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The second-to-last image is of a person from the first poster
Floyd | surrounded by numerous lit candles. There are seemingly millions of
Floyd | candles in the scene, and it's almost like an optical illusion, as the
Floyd | 'negative space' for certain candles comprise many separate ones when
Floyd | viewed in a different way. No candle seems to have a single,
Floyd | identifiable color (or rather, they seem to include all possible
Floyd | colors) and one can only really make out a single flame glowing
Floyd | serenely upon them.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "g"

Floyd ] Poster Store 351 / 354
Floyd | >Floyd | > GFloyd |
Floyd | I flip to the next poster in the series and take a look at it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The last scene shows vibrant fire all over the edges, and the subjects
Floyd | all seem burned to a crisp. There is no sign of the ghost, but the
Floyd | bodies of the boy, the girl, and all their compatriots are viciously
Floyd | chunked and charred. It's a beautiful little bit of art, regardless of
Floyd | how horrible the scene it depicts, and how terrible the ulcer is that
Floyd | begins to grow in my stomach.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Sunglasses Hut 351 / 358
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Sunglasses HutFloyd | I'm not quite sure why sunglasses and shades are only sold in 'huts'
Floyd | but this store is very un-hut like. There are three very solid walls
Floyd | here and a roof made not of thatch, but poured, cracking cement. The
Floyd | floor is hardly comprised of peat or mud, but the same tile present
Floyd | everywhere else in the Mall.
Floyd |
Floyd | A fair bit of ether has snaked itself into the room. It combines with
Floyd | the hand-picked and market-researched atmospheric lights that still
Floyd | function to give off a very deep, defracted and soothing look to the
Floyd | room. Vibrant purples and deep blues dominate the walls and counters
Floyd | of the Sunglasses Hut.
Floyd |
Floyd | I worked at this place for a week once when I was fighting with my
Floyd | manager at the D&D store. I acquired a little bit of trivia regarding
Floyd | this place (for instance, the center display case will open if it's
Floyd | tapped upon) but nothing useful otherwise.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, East Edge 356 / 362
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, East EdgeFloyd | This is the first level, or ground floor, of the Funtime Teen Mall.
Floyd | The lone Mall Exit leads in a westerly direction, past a few more
Floyd | stretches of darkness-enveloped corridor, and the Food Court. There's
Floyd | also a few more stores to the west, with the Mall passageways
Floyd | expanding to all four directions at that point.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits lead west to the rest of the Mall, and inside to the elevator.
Floyd |
Floyd | In the center of the corridor is a sculpted marble statue.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "I'm guessing it's for protection later on."

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "x statue"

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, East Edge 356 / 363
Floyd | >Floyd | > X STATUEFloyd |
Floyd | It's a nicely-sculpted, eight-foot marble work of the mythological god
Floyd | of love. Cupid (known as Eros in Greek myth) was often depicted as
Floyd | being a winged baby or cherub that would just start freaking out and
Floyd | begin slinging arrows at people so they would indulge in a torrent of
Floyd | romance, love and sex.
Floyd |
Floyd | This statue was commissioned by the guy who owns and rents out the
Floyd | Mall, from a student at the local art college. Cupid's in a pose where
Floyd | he seems to be taking deadly aim at people.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, Central Corridor 356 / 372
Floyd | >Floyd | > X MENORAHFloyd |
Floyd | The menorah has places for nine candles -- one for each day of
Floyd | Hanukkah, and then one candle which is the Shamash, which is used to
Floyd | light the other candles once per day for each day of the holiday. This
Floyd | menorah is made out of brass and does not appear to have had any
Floyd | attention or cleaning in quite some time.
Floyd | Inside the menorah are the crimson candle, the cyan candle, the jade
Floyd | candle, the umber candle, the indigo candle, the canary candle, the
Floyd | black candle, the slate candle, and the white candle.
Floyd |
Floyd | Inside the menorah are the crimson candle, the cyan candle, the jade
Floyd | candle, the umber candle, the indigo candle, the canary candle, the
Floyd | black candle, the slate candle, and the white candle.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "perhaps the book doesn't reveal any info until we know what to look for."

DavidW says, "That 'gets a little brighter' is just a default message, y'know."

smartgenes says, "i thought so, but i thought i'd check"

DavidW says, "I see no good reason to save. The scream from food court happened ages ago. We're probably far too late responding to it."

smartgenes says, "i think it starts the timer with the 15 minutes comment"

DavidW says, "perhaps"

DavidW says, "well, it doesn't hurt ot save as long as you don't clobber our old save position."

smartgenes says, "did you say last time there is another type of save where you have to PUSH BUTTON"

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "save"

Floyd | >Floyd | > SAVEFloyd | %% Enter a save filename to write:

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "cf8"

Floyd | > SAVESaved.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, West Edge 356 / 377
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, West EdgeFloyd | The area is free from the wreckage. Gibs, though is just standing up,
Floyd | completely motionless, facing the inky blackness that shrouds the Food
Floyd | Court from here. Casey is nowhere to be found.
Floyd | Gibs is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | "She was here, Duffy. She was beautiful."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Who was? Casey? Where's Casey?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Casey... " Gibs turns and looks at me for the first time since I came
Floyd | back. "No... not poor Casey. We finished up getting all the wreckage
Floyd | out of the way and as I looked up Casey was entranced by the most
Floyd | beautiful creature I have ever seen. Her skin was so pale, so fragile.
Floyd | She had this dark shock of bangs that framed her perfect face. As soon
Floyd | as I looked up, I froze. But she had locked eyes with Casey. I knew
Floyd | her name was Kali, but not how. Casey didn't seem to be able to move,
Floyd | at first, just like me. Then -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "It was a vampire, Gibs. I was hoping we'd avoid one, but -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "She took Casey by the hand and they both walked that way... into the
Floyd | darkness."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] Food Court 356 / 378
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Food CourtFloyd | The Food Court is a vast, open area and I can only see about half of
Floyd | it from here due to the lack of light -- the entire western end of it
Floyd | is cloaked in darkness. There are a number of cheap square tables and
Floyd | static plastic chairs bolted to the floor here, although a few have
Floyd | somehow broken off and are loose.
Floyd |
Floyd | To the northeast is a Nutrition Store. They carry a large assortment
Floyd | of tabs, pills, drugs and spices. The Court has another section to the
Floyd | west, and there is an exit east from where we came.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey lets out a little surprised 'yip!' and runs over towards me.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Jarret!" she says, "I felt something brush up against my leg!
Floyd | Something's here, in this area with us!" Before I can pooh-pooh her
Floyd | objections to this area, a metal chair comes flying at us. It appears
Floyd | as if a poltergeist has infected the food court.
Floyd | A fluorescent light, a garbage can, a brown table, a short gray table,
Floyd | a plastic chair, a metal chair, a broken chair, and some chair parts
Floyd | are here.
Floyd | Casey is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey and Gibs follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | I notice something moving over in the far corner of the Food Court.
Floyd | It's a girl. She is wearing a reserved violet dress and has the most
Floyd | perfect, slim little figure I have ever seen.
Floyd |
Floyd | The vampire, I guess. It has to be; she's just as stunning as Gibs
Floyd | said.
Floyd |
Floyd | Focusing harder, I see Casey beside her, unmoving, defeated,
Floyd | completely obedient. The vampire whispers softly to her -- Casey snaps
Floyd | back into proper consciousness, and after a moment begins to look at
Floyd | her with loving trust. They are both several yards away, but I can
Floyd | make what the vampire says to her perfectly: Follow me, myFloyd | pet.Floyd |
Floyd | The vampire heads off to the west.
Floyd |
Floyd | Casey heads off to the west.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Food Court 356 / 394
Floyd | >Floyd | > X POLTERGEISTFloyd |
Floyd | Poltergeists are a form of invisible undead that whines for attention
Floyd | by flinging shit at people. Of all the creatures and spirits that make
Floyd | up the hierarchy of walking dead, these mewling little bitches are the
Floyd | ones I despise with the most passion. They're the worst drama queens
Floyd | in the underworld. In reality, 'poltergeists' are just the
Floyd | manifestations of picked-on, spoiled little emo or Goth kids... I
Floyd | can't imagine what this demonically-realized little ghost brat has
Floyd | going on underneath the surface.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, West Edge 356 / 401
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 1Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "What does a plus mean?" asks Audrey. "On a home pregnancy test? It
Floyd | means that you're not pregnant. Thank God."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Did you have a close call or something?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yes, we had a close call. Don't you remember? It wasn't that
Floyd | long ago. I had got off ICQ talking to one of your ex-girlfriends the
Floyd | night before. She told me that you, quote, 'wig out' when spoken to in
Floyd | Elvish or some other made-up language along those lines."
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey continues her story, but I start to get a flood of memories
Floyd | back from that night. I had actually deigned to go out clubbing with
Floyd | her for a night a few weeks back. (I usually don't, as I am such a
Floyd | lousy, self-conscious dancer.) She was wearing this tight little gray
Floyd | dress with slight horizontal lines across it, made out of this fuzzy
Floyd | fabric -- the outfit practically squealed 'do me' by itself.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey was grinding her way up against me every time I went onto the
Floyd | floor. I just seizured out. That's the only way I know how to dance. I
Floyd | almost never really consume much alcohol, but that night I was taking
Floyd | pull after pull of some Safeway Vodka that Sydney had smuggled into
Floyd | the club as if the contents of the bottle were nothing more innocuous
Floyd | than Mexican Kool-Aid. Audrey and I took a cab back to her place, and
Floyd | we were all over one another before we could find the light switch.
Floyd |
Floyd | She was on top of me for what seemed like the better part of an hour
Floyd | when she dipped down and whispered something into my ear.
Floyd | Tye-mela'ne. It's Tolkein Elvish for 'I love you.' We don't
Floyd | seem to say that to each other very much, but even drunk I instantly
Floyd | translated what she said and I... well, I went off like a Soviet
Floyd | Catapult: unexpectedly, unpredictably, and altogether quite messily.
Floyd |
Floyd | I hadn't thought about it -- about the consequences of it -- until
Floyd | just right now. I didn't mean for her to go through a pregnancy scare
Floyd | like that by herself. I just wasn't thinking about the details.
Floyd |
Floyd | (For what it's worth, the story that Audrey related as I had this
Floyd | flashback was pretty much exactly like mine, except that she said that
Floyd | we only jammed for something like fifteen minutes. She's got this
Floyd | crazy, post-Einsteinian view of how time really works though, so don't
Floyd | believe her.)
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Food Court 356 / 403
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Food CourtFloyd | The Food Court is a vast, open area, and I can only make out about
Floyd | half of it from here. (The entire west end is shrouded in darkness.)
Floyd |
Floyd | To the northeast is a Nutrition Store. The Court has another section
Floyd | to the west, and there is an exit east from where we originally came.
Floyd | A fluorescent light, a garbage can, a brown table, a short gray table,
Floyd | a plastic chair, a metal chair, a broken chair, some chair parts, and
Floyd | some socks are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey and Gibs follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | Some chair parts comes flying right at me!
Floyd |
Floyd | Some chair parts strike me, and I take a little bit of damage.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "ne"

Floyd ] Nutrition & Herb Store 361 / 404
Floyd | >Floyd | > NEFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Nutrition & Herb StoreFloyd | The Nutrition Store is dominated by a series of five-foot high shelves
Floyd | that make up four distinct aisles. The walls are a sickly shade of
Floyd | green which some junior ad exec no doubt thinks promotes quick sales
Floyd | decisions, when all it truly does is make customers eager to get the
Floyd | hell out before they add an equally off-putting color to the
Floyd | surrounding by use of their own acrid vomit.
Floyd |
Floyd | In the rear of the store is a modest plastic counter and an ancient
Floyd | analog cash register. Further behind that is a closed metal door that
Floyd | really clashes with what's going on otherwise, stylistically.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is no front gate to the Nutrition Store, only a ten foot cut in
Floyd | the wall. The opening is not quite centered, however, and a 5'x3' pane
Floyd | of glass has been placed into the southern wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits lead to the southwest and through the door.
Floyd |
Floyd | "There should surely be some garlic here," I say to myself...
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey and Gibs follow me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Basement to the Nutrition Store 366 / 410
Floyd | >Floyd | > DFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Basement to the Nutrition StoreFloyd | I descend the stairs and enter the basement. The air is at least
Floyd | twenty degrees cooler down here than it is up above and it has a bit
Floyd | of a tangy, acrid -- almost 'chewy' quality to it. My breath turns
Floyd | into wispy, stringy clouds the instant it leaves my lips and I begin
Floyd | to feel my very bones come across a deep chill. I usually prefer
Floyd | winter to summer, so normally I wouldn't be put off by the frost down
Floyd | here and a few bad smells, but there's something different about the
Floyd | chill in the air down here. The temperature of the air seems
Floyd | malevolent, almost.
Floyd |
Floyd | The ceiling of the basement is about five and a half feet high, so I
Floyd | have to lurch over like I'm the hunchback of Notre Dork just to get
Floyd | around. The walls have a very rough texture to them, as if they were
Floyd | blasted away and then sanded down in a very half-assed manner.
Floyd |
Floyd | The corridor continues into darkness to the north.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "n"

Floyd ] First Basement Corridor 366 / 411
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | First Basement CorridorFloyd | The light is very poor in this room, all of it coming from what can
Floyd | seep and pour through the metal door up above. The floor has turned to
Floyd | earth, however, and the walls seem to have a texture wholly different
Floyd | from the blasted rock earlier in the corridor. I can't say I'm totally
Floyd | suprised to find this area down here below the Mall, as rumor was that
Floyd | the place was built upon some burial grounds. I just never knew that
Floyd | they were, in parts, integrated.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits lead south and further on to the north.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "n"

Floyd ] Coffin Room 366 / 412
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Coffin RoomFloyd | The basement ceiling gets much taller in this room, about up to 15
Floyd | feet or so, I'd guess. At the very top is a small torch, which is
Floyd | providing a fair bit of the light in the room -- the rest of it is
Floyd | reflected from the coffin in the corner.
Floyd |
Floyd | The ground is no longer soft earth, either, but rather blocks of cold
Floyd | stone. The walls are made of some kind of brick which reflects a bit
Floyd | of light as well, although nowhere near as well as the coffin.
Floyd |
Floyd | A support beam has been installed next to the coffin. Beyond it, to
Floyd | the right, is a small and very dark alcove.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Coffin Room 366 / 420
Floyd | >Floyd | > X CARDSFloyd |
Floyd | The cards are used in a game called 'Magic:The Gathering.' It's sort
Floyd | of like poker for nerds, except that the cards have special powers and
Floyd | so forth. I've never really gotten into it. Anyway, this is a small
Floyd | box containing wrapped packs of cards. There are about fifty or so in
Floyd | a box.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Coffin Room 366 / 423
Floyd | >Floyd | > LFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Coffin RoomFloyd | The ceiling in this room is unique within the basement, as it is
Floyd | actually enough up where I don't have to hunch. At the top of the
Floyd | ceiling is a single, lit torch, held at a diagonal against the wall
Floyd | with a bracket. All available light is strongly reflected from the
Floyd | coffin, which sits quietly in the corner of the room. The walls are
Floyd | made out of a flecked brick, and a support beam stands to the right of
Floyd | the coffin.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits are south towards the stairs and east into a tight alcove.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "read text"

Floyd ] Coffin Room 366 / 424
Floyd | >Floyd | > READ TEXTFloyd |
Floyd | I flip through a few pages, but nothing really catches my eye. I'm
Floyd | sure that some long dead monk or priest who nearly acquired whatever
Floyd | the 14th century version of repetitive motion syndrome in writing this
Floyd | thing is revolving in a European Potter's grave at my disinterest, but
Floyd | the words just seem to roll off my eyeballs in a splash of drama and
Floyd | desperate Calligraphy.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Coffin Room 366 / 429
Floyd | >Floyd | > HIT BEAMFloyd |
Floyd | Even if these beam had a 'keystone' -- which it doesn't -- and I could
Floyd | find it -- which I can't -- if I were to knock it apart the beam and
Floyd | the ceiling would crush me to death.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "If the cold of the room puts out fire, then any chance of fire is impossible while in the coffin room."

smartgenes says, "we can see what else is upstairs, maybe there is another bit of useful inventory we forgot about"

DavidW says, "perhaps"

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "restore"

Floyd | >Floyd | > RESTOREFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Have you got a photographic memory? If you have you will find the
Floyd | following question to be very easy. If you haven't, please find your
Floyd | novella that came with the game called 'Which Witch?'. Please turn to
Floyd | page 2,345, then find line 233 (please note that lines start at 1,
Floyd | 'chapter' lines are included, but blank lines are not.) And count to
Floyd | word 4,096.
Floyd |
Floyd | Now please enter this word. Or just hit enter. You have three chances
Floyd | to get it right.
Floyd | Please enter word :

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, Central Corridor 356 / 376
Floyd | > CF8Restored.
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, Central CorridorFloyd | This stretch of the Mall hallway is covered with just a bit of rubble.
Floyd | There are clear exits to the west and south. The gate to the Record
Floyd | Store is down to the north.
Floyd | The cross is here.
Floyd | Audrey is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, East Edge 356 / 378
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, East EdgeFloyd | This is the first level, or ground floor, of the Funtime Teen Mall.
Floyd | The lone Mall Exit leads in a westerly direction, past a few more
Floyd | stretches of darkness-enveloped corridor, and the Food Court. There's
Floyd | also a few more stores to the west, with the Mall passageways
Floyd | expanding to all four directions at that point.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits lead west to the rest of the Mall, and inside to the elevator.
Floyd |
Floyd | In the center of the corridor is a sculpted marble statue.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Before the Elevator 356 / 383
Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Before the ElevatorFloyd | The floor of the Mall comes up against a rail, forming a barrier which
Floyd | prevents further (sane) western travel. The bottom (ground floor)
Floyd | level can be viewed with ease, though, as the guardrail mainly
Floyd | prevents kids -- future productive Mall denizens! -- from ragdolling
Floyd | their way off the edge.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a badly-cracked kiosk in the center of the hallway. At the
Floyd | far end of the rail is an elevator.
Floyd | There is a crystal ball holder here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "x holder"

Floyd ] Before the Elevator 356 / 384
Floyd | >Floyd | > X HOLDERFloyd |
Floyd | It's a wooden stand, roughly four feet in height. It has three
Floyd | protruding grips on top to hold a smallish crystal ball (which is
Floyd | present). The base is circular in shape and rather thick.
Floyd |
Floyd | The stand is broken, and cannot be used effectively as a weapon.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Before the Elevator 356 / 394
Floyd | >Floyd | > EXITSFloyd |
Floyd | There are exits north to the Jewelry Store, in towards the Elevator
Floyd | and east towards the east side of the Mall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "n"

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 356 / 395
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Jewelry StoreFloyd | The Jewelry Store is of average dimensions for the Mall, with
Floyd | significantly less maneuvering room due to the long tabletop display
Floyd | that snakes about the room. They sell all manner of jewelry (ear
Floyd | rings, bracelets, watches) but as they close much earlier than
Floyd | everybody else, it's all under lock and key.
Floyd |
Floyd | On the east side of the store, against the wall, is a large safebox.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Jewelry Store 356 / 397
Floyd | >Floyd | > X ITFloyd |
Floyd | (assuming you mean the safebox)
Floyd | This is a towering cabinet, in which all the valuable jewelry is kept
Floyd | when the store closes down at night. It is about seven feet tall and
Floyd | compartmentalized into different sections, one of which I can get to
Floyd | easily at my own relatively meager height.
Floyd |
Floyd | It's open.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Before the Elevator 356 / 398
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Before the ElevatorFloyd | The floor of the Mall comes up against a rail, forming a barrier which
Floyd | prevents further (sane) western travel. The bottom (ground floor)
Floyd | level can be viewed with ease, though, as the guardrail mainly
Floyd | prevents kids -- future productive Mall denizens! -- from ragdolling
Floyd | their way off the edge.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a badly-cracked kiosk in the center of the hallway. At the
Floyd | far end of the rail is an elevator.
Floyd | Some socks, Barnaby's Big Gulp drink, a pleather purse are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "s"

Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd | There's not a path in that direction.
Floyd |
Floyd | There are exits north to the Jewelry Store, in towards the Elevator
Floyd | and east towards the east side of the Mall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "e"

Floyd ] East Side Corridor 356 / 399
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side CorridorFloyd | There's only one more stretch of corridor on this level before one
Floyd | gets to the elevator, which leads down to the ground floor. To the
Floyd | south of this area is the Bead Store, exits otherwise lead west and
Floyd | east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "s"

Floyd ] Bead Store 356 / 400
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Bead StoreFloyd | The Bead Store smells strongly of incense and stale joints, and it
Floyd | almost overpowers every other sense. There are shelves on all sides of
Floyd | the store, but none in the middle of the store due to the drawn
Floyd | pentagram.
Floyd | A postcard, the X-box are here.
Floyd | Sydney and the skeleton are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] East Side Corridor 356 / 402
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side CorridorFloyd | There's only one more stretch of corridor on this level before one
Floyd | gets to the elevator, which leads down to the ground floor. To the
Floyd | south of this area is the Bead Store, exits otherwise lead west and
Floyd | east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "s"

Floyd ] Bead Store 356 / 403
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Bead StoreFloyd | The Bead Store smells strongly of incense and stale joints, and it
Floyd | almost overpowers every other sense. There are shelves on all sides of
Floyd | the store, but none in the middle of the store due to the drawn
Floyd | pentagram.
Floyd | A postcard, the X-box are here.
Floyd | Sydney and the skeleton are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] East Side Corridor 356 / 405
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side CorridorFloyd | There's only one more stretch of corridor on this level before one
Floyd | gets to the elevator, which leads down to the ground floor. To the
Floyd | south of this area is the Bead Store, exits otherwise lead west and
Floyd | east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "e"

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 356 / 406
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side of the MallFloyd | I'm at the eastern side of the Mall. To the north is Choad's Sporting
Floyd | Goods. My store is a bit to the east, and the Bead Store a bit to the
Floyd | west.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a table here, set adjacent to the Sporting Goods store.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "back"

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "x table"

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 356 / 407
Floyd | >Floyd | > X TABLEFloyd |
Floyd | Some of the stores have tables on the outside, in an attempt to entice
Floyd | customers to come inside. This table is one of them, for Choad's
Floyd | Sporting Goods Store. Usually only extremely cheap items are set on
Floyd | them, so as to minimize shortages and loss.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says, "got a candle holder"

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "n"

Floyd ] Choad's Sporting Goods 356 / 408
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Choad's Sporting GoodsFloyd | Choad's Sporting Goods exists under the unfortunate circumstance that
Floyd | the owner's name translates into Bengali as 'fuck.' Once or twice a
Floyd | year there will be a demonstration or protest from a bunch of local
Floyd | student Hindus, but nothing ever changes.
Floyd |
Floyd | The store is one of the larger ones in the Mall, about 40' wide and
Floyd | 140' long. Ski jackets take up almost all the area towards the front
Floyd | of the store, as far as I can see, with the entire western wall filled
Floyd | with displays of discount tennis sneakers.
Floyd |
Floyd | There doesn't seem to be any rifles or shotguns for sale. (It appears
Floyd | as if Gibs's intuition was incorrect.)
Floyd | There is a circular jacket rack here.
Floyd | The ghoul is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "s"

Floyd ] East Side of the Mall 356 / 409
Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side of the MallFloyd | I'm at the eastern side of the Mall. To the north is Choad's Sporting
Floyd | Goods. My store is a bit to the east, and the Bead Store a bit to the
Floyd | west.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a table here, set adjacent to the Sporting Goods store.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] East Side Corridor 356 / 410
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | East Side CorridorFloyd | There's only one more stretch of corridor on this level before one
Floyd | gets to the elevator, which leads down to the ground floor. To the
Floyd | south of this area is the Bead Store, exits otherwise lead west and
Floyd | east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "w"

Floyd ] Before the Elevator 356 / 411
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Before the ElevatorFloyd | The floor of the Mall comes up against a rail, forming a barrier which
Floyd | prevents further (sane) western travel. The bottom (ground floor)
Floyd | level can be viewed with ease, though, as the guardrail mainly
Floyd | prevents kids -- future productive Mall denizens! -- from ragdolling
Floyd | their way off the edge.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a badly-cracked kiosk in the center of the hallway. At the
Floyd | far end of the rail is an elevator.
Floyd | Some socks, Barnaby's Big Gulp drink, a pleather purse are here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "We already know we can get the torch down. But it goes out."

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "out"

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, East Edge 356 / 415
Floyd | >Floyd | > OUTFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, East EdgeFloyd | This is the first level, or ground floor, of the Funtime Teen Mall.
Floyd | The lone Mall Exit leads in a westerly direction, past a few more
Floyd | stretches of darkness-enveloped corridor, and the Food Court. There's
Floyd | also a few more stores to the west, with the Mall passageways
Floyd | expanding to all four directions at that point.
Floyd |
Floyd | Exits lead west to the rest of the Mall, and inside to the elevator.
Floyd |
Floyd | In the center of the corridor is a sculpted marble statue.
Floyd | Audrey is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "I think even if we had a ladder and safely took it with out hand, it'd go out when we returned to the floor."

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, Eastern Edge 356 / 417
Floyd | >Floyd | > X FOUNTAINFloyd |
Floyd | The fountain is rich limestone artifact that was discovered years ago
Floyd | in a poured-over closet in Italy and flown out here at great expense.
Floyd | It has been converted from its original state as a Renaissance-era
Floyd | commissioned sculpture to a marketing tool for the Mall.
Floyd |
Floyd | It's about six feet at the base and rather shallow -- water would only
Floyd | come up to one's ankles in its normal, calm state. The spout extends a
Floyd | couple of feet up from the dead center of the base. There are a few
Floyd | inscriptions and symbols on the thing, but nothing I can decipher.
Floyd |
Floyd | Inside the fountain is some water.
Floyd |
Floyd | Inside the fountain is some water.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Sunglasses Hut 356 / 419
Floyd | >Floyd | > NFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Sunglasses HutFloyd | A fair bit of ether has snaked itself into the room. It combines with
Floyd | the hand-picked and market-researched atmospheric lights that still
Floyd | function to give off a very deep, defracted and soothing look to the
Floyd | room. Vibrant purples and deep blues dominate the walls and counters
Floyd | of the Sunglasses Hut.
Floyd |
Floyd | I worked at this place for a week once when I was fighting with my
Floyd | manager at the D&D store. I acquired a little bit of trivia regarding
Floyd | this place (for instance, the center display case will open if it's
Floyd | tapped upon) but nothing useful otherwise.
Floyd | The spectre is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Sunglasses Hut 356 / 422
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>
Floyd | > 2Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | "What does a plus mean?" asks Audrey. "On a home pregnancy test? It
Floyd | means that you're not pregnant. Thank God."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Did you have a close call or something?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yes, we had a close call. Don't you remember? It wasn't that
Floyd | long ago. I had got off ICQ talking to one of your ex-girlfriends the
Floyd | night before. She told me that you, quote, 'wig out' when spoken to in
Floyd | Elvish or some other made-up language along those lines."
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey continues her story, but I start to get a flood of memories
Floyd | back from that night. I had actually deigned to go out clubbing with
Floyd | her for a night a few weeks back. (I usually don't, as I am such a
Floyd | lousy, self-conscious dancer.) She was wearing this tight little gray
Floyd | dress with slight horizontal lines across it, made out of this fuzzy
Floyd | fabric -- the outfit practically squealed 'do me' by itself.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey was grinding her way up against me every time I went onto the
Floyd | floor. I just seizured out. That's the only way I know how to dance. I
Floyd | almost never really consume much alcohol, but that night I was taking
Floyd | pull after pull of some Safeway Vodka that Sydney had smuggled into
Floyd | the club as if the contents of the bottle were nothing more innocuous
Floyd | than Mexican Kool-Aid. Audrey and I took a cab back to her place, and
Floyd | we were all over one another before we could find the light switch.
Floyd |
Floyd | She was on top of me for what seemed like the better part of an hour
Floyd | when she dipped down and whispered something into my ear.
Floyd | Tye-mela'ne. It's Tolkein Elvish for 'I love you.' We don't
Floyd | seem to say that to each other very much, but even drunk I instantly
Floyd | translated what she said and I... well, I went off like a Soviet
Floyd | Catapult: unexpectedly, unpredictably, and altogether quite messily.
Floyd |
Floyd | I hadn't thought about it -- about the consequences of it -- until
Floyd | just right now. I didn't mean for her to go through a pregnancy scare
Floyd | like that by herself. I just wasn't thinking about the details.
Floyd |
Floyd | (For what it's worth, the story that Audrey related as I had this
Floyd | flashback was pretty much exactly like mine, except that she said that
Floyd | we only jammed for something like fifteen minutes. She's got this
Floyd | crazy, post-Einsteinian view of how time really works though, so don't
Floyd | believe her.)
Floyd |
Floyd | Please select one:
Floyd |
Floyd | (1) "Well, what is fun, then? Educate me."
Floyd |
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >>

Floyd ] Christ's Candles 356 / 429
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's CandlesFloyd | The Candle Store is the second-most picketed store, right after
Floyd | Choad's. It used to be a lot worse when it was a nail and board
Floyd | emporium, though. Some old and independently wealthy latin guy owns
Floyd | the place, though, and he just doesn't care about the Cash-In of the
Floyd | Christ.
Floyd |
Floyd | Christ's Candles is decked out in a similar manner to the Bead Store,
Floyd | hippie stuff and dark shadows even when the power isn't completely
Floyd | out. This isn't the kind of city where one can set up a number of
Floyd | candles on stands like in the video to 'Wrapped Around Your Finger,'
Floyd | so instead all the candles and other objects are on shelves.
Floyd |
Floyd | The floorspace towards the rear of the store is completely taken up by
Floyd | the long display table against the western wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Party On Central 356 / 432
Floyd | >Floyd | > EFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Party On CentralFloyd | This store is mostly unfurnished, with a low, bare ceiling, cold floor
Floyd | covered in cheap carpeting, and blankets and rugs thumb-tacked up to
Floyd | hide the peeling wallpaper and crumbling drywall.
Floyd |
Floyd | The contents of the room are a cluttered mess, as this place seems to
Floyd | be more of a craftsman's think-tank and construction area than pure
Floyd | chamber for commerce like so many other shops in the Mall. There's a
Floyd | workdesk and mirror along the northern wall and a file cabinet across
Floyd | from it. A small window is visible behind some junk, and directly
Floyd | across from the entrance are seven masks attached to the back wall in
Floyd | a proud display. Attached to one of the naked support beams is a disco
Floyd | laser pointer.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, West Edge 356 / 443
Floyd | >Floyd | > WFloyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Mall, First Level, West EdgeFloyd | The area is free from the wreckage. Gibs, though is just standing up,
Floyd | completely motionless, facing the inky blackness that shrouds the Food
Floyd | Court from here. Casey is nowhere to be found.
Floyd | Gibs is here.
Floyd |
Floyd | Audrey follows me.
Floyd |
Floyd | "She was here, Duffy. She was beautiful."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Who was? Casey? Where's Casey?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Casey... " Gibs turns and looks at me for the first time since I came
Floyd | back. "No... not poor Casey. We finished up getting all the wreckage
Floyd | out of the way and as I looked up Casey was entranced by the most
Floyd | beautiful creature I have ever seen. Her skin was so pale, so fragile.
Floyd | She had this dark shock of bangs that framed her perfect face. As soon
Floyd | as I looked up, I froze. But she had locked eyes with Casey. I knew
Floyd | her name was Kali, but not how. Casey didn't seem to be able to move,
Floyd | at first, just like me. Then -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "It was a vampire, Gibs. I was hoping we'd avoid one, but -- "
Floyd |
Floyd | "She took Casey by the hand and they both walked that way... into the
Floyd | darkness."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd ] Mall, First Level, West Edge 356 / 445
Floyd | >Floyd | > EXITSFloyd |
Floyd | There are exits north to Discount Novel Shoppe, East to the Central
Floyd | Corridor, South to the Sneaker Store and West to the Food Court.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

smartgenes says (to Floyd), "s"

Floyd | >Floyd | > SFloyd |
Floyd | The gate to the Sneaker Store is down.
Floyd | There are exits north to Discount Novel Shoppe, East to the Central
Floyd | Corridor, South to the Sneaker Store and West to the Food Court.
Floyd |
Floyd | >